The Ace Trainer
by XQR
Summary: Steven deals with fame, his romantic orientation, and, of course, Wallace. Originshipping (WallacexSteven). Including non-binary and asexual characters.
1. Fan Mail

A/N: Wallace is non-binary in this and they/them pronouns are used for Wallace throughout the fic. If you're down with that please continue into Originshipping hell.

 **The Ace Trainer**

"Sweet Arceus, is that Steven Stone?"

"She's right! It's him!"

High-pitched noises of excitement could be heard from the group of teenagers.

"Who's with him?"

"Jeez, don't you know who Wallace is? Do you even contests, Ami?"

"Of course she doesn't pay attention to anyone other than Lissi."

"I forgot Lissi is her 'waifu', but how can you say that without knowing her uncle?"

One of the girls walked straight into one of the people they'd been following.

Wallace surveyed them briefly. "Ladies, I am glad that both Steven and Lisia have fans, but it is rather distracting to have you following us like this."

There was an outburst of apologies as the girls began to shuffle away, but not before looking up at Steven in amazement, feeling blessed to have seen him up close.

"Is it always like this in Rustboro?" Wallace asked.

"You get used to it, sign a few autographs, pose for a selfie. It's become part of my life now."

Steven had seemed unfazed by his fans, trying to carry on the conversation, but this whole city was too loud for Wallace. They were no stranger to fame, but at the end of the day it was always the return to quiet Sootopolis they looked forward to.

Dinner was as fancy as ever. Devon had found the need for an on-site restaurant to cater to clients, some of whom were too rich for their own good, and so Steven could invite whoever he wished at no cost.

"So, what news do you have?" Steven asked over the starter of king prawns.

"There isn't much," Wallace said, but Steven could hear the hint of more.

"Do tell."

"Okay, so…you know how I've established myself in the contest world and, well, I know you could tell something wasn't quite right last time we met... I felt like I'd hit a wall. As if I'd done as much as I could in the way of contests."

Steven nodded. "I suppose there's little more you can achieve unless you create more contests."

"Yes! That – exactly that." Wallace laughed to himself. "Perhaps I should have mentioned it last time if it was that easy to figure out. I spent a while working that one out, so, drumroll please." They tapped the table lightly. "I present to you my latest idea – the Wallace Cup!"

Steven clapped quietly. "Sounds fabulous. What does it entail?"

Wallace opened their mouth and then pulled a face. "I didn't get that far. Maybe I'll come back with the details next month."

"I'll be waiting. Maybe I'll even enter."

"As if I'd allow such casual contest entrants into _my_ Cup."

Steven pouted. "Champion privileges?"

"I'll think about it. How is champion life?"

"I have no idea why I agreed to do it. I guess it was the easy option at the time, not wanting to go into Devon and all, but Wallace, I need to tell you about the rock business!"

"I noticed you took my advice."

Steven smiled. "Wallace, I just… I don't even know how to thank you. Literally if there is anything you want that money can buy I will get it for you. Seriously. No one wanted to buy my rocks until your ingenious plan I call 'rock modelling.'"

Wallace nodded slowly. "What a great name."

Their sarcasm didn't throw Steven off. "Once I was the one selling rocks we sold so many more. Everyone wanted a rock that the champion liked."

"Mmm, it has nothing to do with your open shirt, lying on a bed of silk looking oh so lovely."

"The guy directing the ads said we'd be following the style of all the successful jewellery, watch and perfume brands." Steven paused while the main was set in front of them. "Do you really think that's why, Wallace? I mean, are people buying my rocks for reasons other than liking rocks?"

Wallace smiled at their sweet friend. "Who knows? Maybe you should survey your buyers some time."

Steven shrugged. "I don't really mind why they buy them because it means I have more reasons to spend time in caves looking for them. I found some nice lapis lazuli the other day…"

 **OooO**

Steven sat in Wallace's living room, fiddling with his rings as he waited for the opportune moment to approach Wallace with his problem.

"So, how are you?" Steven asked.

"I'm good, thank you, but Steven, you don't have to beat around the bush with why you're here."

Steven smiled awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I have something I need to discuss and I didn't know who to talk to… I couldn't go to my father about the matter."

Wallace raised their eyebrows in intrigue. They were already surprised by Steven's in-person visit, but to find out he couldn't confide in his dad only deepened the mystery. "You know I'm always here for you."

Steven reached down and opened his briefcase from which he pulled several envelopes. "This is just a small selection. A choice few, if you will."

To start Wallace opened the pink envelope. As they scanned the contents their eyes widened. Without waiting they opened the next one, nodding slowly at the content.

Steven sat patiently, watching as Wallace's expression changed. When they had finished they pressed their hands together and brought them to their lips. Several deep breaths happened before Wallace found the words they wanted.

"What do you think of these letters?" they asked.

"At first I was flattered," Steven said, "but the first few I received were not as…explicit as the ones I have shown you. Now I find them entirely inappropriate and I want to put a stop to them."

"I understand. I, as a contest champion, have received letters of a similar nature, but I am now extremely grateful that my fans have more elegance in their writing. This is just… Well, this one here is basically a self-insert fanfiction. Do your fans feel no shame in sending these directly to you?"

Steven shrugged. "Clearly not. Do you think I could just tell them I'm not interested and then they'll leave me alone?"

It was difficult for Wallace not to burst out laughing. "Steven, my dear, you cannot stop them. Say what you wish, it will not stop them from believing what they want to believe. Actually, from what I've seen, if you were to say that they would assume that – wait, before I make assumptions – do you receive these letters from a particular type of person?"

"From what I've gathered they're mainly teenage girls who have an interest in me and not my rocks." Steven pouted.

"So, if you tell them you're not interested in them they may assume you're interested in men and, to be truthful, I think that would be worse."

"Oh, I've had a couple like that. It made a nice change to be honest."

Wallace shook their head. "Steven, no, that's too small minded. If your female fans cannot ship you with themselves then they will find suitable males to ship you with! Your closest friends will appear in your next letters doing Arceus-knows-what."

"Well, aren't I lucky I don't have too many close male friends. I personally thought Roxanne, fellow lover of rocks, would be the obvious ship. I don't think anyone from the Elite Four is a contender…"

"It doesn't matter to them, Steven, they will make it work."

Steven cocked his head. "Why, it almost sounds as if you're worried about something, Wallace."

"I would do many things to stay out of your fans' letters."

"What if I told you I had another letter to show you?" Steven asked, sliding a finger across the briefcase.

"Please, tell me you're joking."

"I am. But why so worried? It would be like a compliment, right?"

Wallace shook their head. "No, it would be weird. Honestly, I don't want you to read letters like that because it would be uncomfortable for you, and I don't want them to be written by people who may not have done their research on me."

"Well then I would hope that I received one that had glaring errors about you so I could focus on that rather than it being 'weird.' However, you have convinced me that I need to end this sooner rather than later. What is the appropriate course of action?"

Wallace furrowed their brow. "One option would be to stop accepting fan mail, but that's not advisable. Ah, of course… So currently you read the mail yourself, right?"

"Naturally."

"Well then all you need to do is employ someone to screen your mail. They read it first and then only pass the good stuff onto you."

Steven clapped. "I knew you would find the answer. Who should I get to do this? Knowing that I'm about to dump a load of porn on their desk?"

"Someone you can trust to just go through it and not bat an eyelid preferably."

"Wallace."

"Yes?"

Steven shook his head. "I meant you! You can do this job. I'll pay you. And it's not like I get excessive amounts – if it becomes too big a burden I'll find someone with more time."

"I…I suppose I can do it for the time being until we find a better solution." They weren't exactly thrilled by the idea, but they were willing to do a great many things to help their friend.

 **OooO**

Throughout the following week Steven watched as his pile of fan mail grew. He was getting excited like a child at Christmas, being able to look at presents but not open them. When the weekend finally rolled around he made sure he turned up promptly to Wallace's Sootopolis home, eagerly awaiting the news of what his letters held.

"Hi, Steven!" A big grin was plastered on the face of the speaker.

"Oh, Lisia, it's nice to see you."

"Yes, you and Lisia are going to be working away at the same time as me," Wallace announced.

"Oh?" Steven was surprised at this turn of events.

"What were you planning on doing all day while I was reading away? I mean, I was assuming that you were going to stick around?"

"Yeah…I… Okay, I'll admit I was so excited to find out what was in the letters I hadn't really thought about it. I guess I'd imagined they were all going to be good letters so I would be reading and replying straight away."

Wallace made a face. "Yeah, that's not going to happen and you know it. So, that's why I have Lisia on hand to keep you busy. I would help you with your task were I not otherwise engaged."

Lisia took Steven's arm and led him to the table where a laptop sat. "Today we're going to learn about the internet."

"I already know about the internet," Steven said.

Lisia made a face very similar to the one Wallace had just given him; it must run in the family. "Sure you do, but you're not using it like you should."

Wallace planted themself on the sofa and pulled a few letters out of the bag. "Steven, it occurred to me that you come across as a very mysterious man. I was talking to Lissi about you, actually, because she's the right age and has friends who fit the kind who'd write to you. And through our conversation I learned that most of your fanbase know nothing about you."

Lisia nodded. "Steven Stone, 24 years old, birthday unknown. Heir of Devon, current Hoenn champion, has a house in Mossdeep. Likes rocks. Likes all of the rocks. Rocks! Oh, and trains steel Pokémon despite the fact he likes _rocks_."

"Hey, I –"

"Shh," Lisia continued. "So they're like some facts we know about you. Then there's the opinions that are commonly 'Steven is hot,' 'Steven has a nice butt,' 'I want Steven's babies.'"

"That's gross."

Wallace cleared their throat. "Anyway, the point is the public don't know anything about you really. And that makes you seem way cooler than you are because at least Lisia and I know you're just a massive rock nerd. So to make you seem more normal, and to sate your fans, we're going to get you onto social media."

"I have a Pokébook account…" Steven's defence was poor.

"You're not even my friend on there," Lisia said. "So if I, your best friend's niece, can't even see what you post, then how is some random fan in Fortree? We need to get you a public page where you can interact with them. And a Pika account."

Steven groaned. "But Pika's so ridiculous. Why limit yourself to 140 characters? Can I not have one of those? Maybe a…Tackler?"

"No, you're having all of the social media and Pika is one of the most important, so get used to it."

Lisia was a tough cookie and his new social media mentor for the next couple of weeks.

During the hours it took to make all of his new accounts, Wallace occasionally interjected with a choice quote from the letter they were reading. Steven was surprised that Wallace just casually quoted some of the material in front of Lisia, but then realised they must be 'the cool uncle.' It didn't seem to faze her and on one occasion she groaned at how badly written it was.

"Oh, oh I've been mentioned!" Wallace waved the paper like a golden ticket. "Let's see, 'I've seen you hanging around with Wallace in Rustboro a few times,' wow, that's kind of stalker-ish, 'maybe you haven't replied to my previous letters because he's the one for you?'" Wallace huffed. "At least it's not a whole story of incorrect pronouns."

"Maybe you should get all these social media things so you can tell everyone to use the right pronouns."

Wallace placed a hand on their chest and Steven knew he was about to be told. "Steven, my dear friend, if you had 'all these social media things' you would know that in every bio I put my pronouns so that even people passing by my profile will know."

"So should I just put my sexuality in all of my bios so people will leave me alone?"

"You wish to destroy the mystery just like that?" Wallace mock-gasped. "Seriously though, I don't know what advice to give there. You might end up trading these explicit letters for prying and inappropriate questions."

"You make it sound like whatever I tell my fans I won't be able to win."

Lisia spoke up, "you can't win. They will write and ask whatever they want. You can only minimise how much crap you get. My fan community were a bit like yours at the start. Myself and others were constantly reminding people that I am actually underage and shouldn't be receiving some of the things I am sent. Now the community are always reminding people on their own and so a lot more think before they act. We just have to do the same for you. Although admittedly it was easy for me because it was a legal issue."

"It's entirely up to you what you want to tell the fans and how you want to do it," Wallace said. "Mull it over while we eat."

"Oh, are you done?" Steven asked as Wallace made their way to the kitchen.

"Almost."

Steven looked at the letters piled neatly on the floor, one substantially bigger than the other. "So, which one is the good pile?" he asked hopefully.

"Take a guess."

Eager to take a break from staring at the laptop screen, Steven got up and picked the top letter off the tall pile. "Wallace, I am crying. Why do I get so much junk mail?" He bent down and picked up the small pile, counting a total of 7 letters.

"You'll like at least one of them," Wallace said from the doorway. "They went on about rocks for so long that I didn't finish reading it."

Steven beamed and began to dig through to find the one Wallace spoke of.

By the time dinner was served there was a very happy Steven. It was definitely much nicer to read just the quality stuff.

"Wallace, you are too kind. Reading all of my junk and making me dinner? I'm blessed to have you as a friend."

Wallace brushed it off. "It's no big deal. It was nice to have you over, and Lisia too." She grinned. "She definitely deserves just as much thanks for putting up with your whining all afternoon."

"Certainly. Thank you, Lisia, I will try my hardest to use all these accounts like you've told me."

"If you don't you'll get an earful next week," she said.

"So, what do you want to do with the rest of your mail?" Wallace asked.

Steven shrugged. "I'll probably just throw it away."

"Leave it with me and I'll recycle it." Not just nice to their friends, also nice to the planet.

 **OooO**

"Steven!"

Steven was surprised to find Lisia standing in his office.

"I wasn't expecting to see you today." He quickly glanced down at his diary. "What brings you here?"

She smiled. "I was in the area and thought I'd check up on you. Noticed you've been posting some stuff."

"I thought I'd start by showing everyone the rocks around my office."

"Yeah, that's great, but maybe you could make the posts…um, maybe you could take selfies with the rocks. I'm sure your fans are eager to see you."

Steven nodded. "Pick one for today for me."

She looked around, spoilt for choice. "Oh, actually, I have a stone." She reached up and plucked the mega stone from her hair clip. "Not something you'll be able to photograph every day. Take a selfie with me and the stone and you can tag me. Maybe some of my followers will follow you too."

They posed and Steven took the photo. "I have over 100 followers now."

"It's a start. I reckon we can get you several thousand with more content and exposure. Anyway, I must be off. Seeya!"

He barely got the chance to wave before she was out the door. He whipped up a few words to accompany the photo and posted it. Within seconds the notifications started to trickle in and the option to disable them was suddenly very relevant.

By the time the weekend rolled around Steven had amassed more followers than he could handle and was begging Lisia to help him.

"I can't possibly reply to all of them! Why did you make me get so many accounts?"

She sighed. "You won't reply to all of them, it's impossible."

"B-but I don't want to disappoint them."

"In retrospect we probably should have started you on one thing so we could ease you in, but it was just easier for me to do it all in one day. Oh well, at least it gets this part over quickly rather than you slowly building up fans and cracking under the pressure of trying to respond to them all."

"How do you do it?" he asked.

"I have learned that you can't please them all. I log into things when I have time and reply to a few. Honestly, Steven, you need to let it go. Some people will never have their message read, but you are only human."

He frowned at her. "Waaallace, tell me how you do it."

Wallace looked up from the letter they were reading. "Lissi is right. Although maybe you can search your messages for the word 'rock' if that'll satisfy you. Welcome to 'famous' life."

Steven groaned. "I preferred it when I wasn't well known."

"It was inevitable," Wallace said. "All champions end up being famous within their region. It was only a matter of time before more people took notice of you."

"Yeah, they're coming to interview me now I've held the position for a few months which is only going to make this worse."

"You say it like it's a bad thing. I haven't seen a single hateful letter yet - well, I mean apart from this one guy who wrote in saying you have to stop being so pretty because his girlfriend only talks about you – but that's not exactly a bad letter."

"I didn't ask to look this good. I don't even know what they see in me." Steven laid his head on the table, defeated. "Maybe I'll just shave my head and wear clothes picked out by a 5 year old."

Wallace laughed. "Aw, letting your fans get the better of you?"

"I just want to go digging in caves without the pressure of having to reply to everyone when I get home."

"Then just stop replying."

"No, Wallace, I can't just stop and be mean."

"Steven Stone, too kind for this world to the point where he's mean to himself. It wouldn't be so funny if it weren't for the fact you're getting less than half of what Lissi gets."

"Maybe I'll hire someone else to reply to my messages. Anyway, what kind of mail did I get this week?"

Wallace picked up the good pile and placed it in front of Steven. "You've had a request from someone who wants to dig with you, someone who wants a job, and a marriage proposal."

Lisia patted the poor man on the back. "Congrats on your first proposal."


	2. Steven's Stones

It took a few weeks for Steven to finally give up on his idea of being the perfect celebrity who replied to every single person. As soon as he made the decision to employ someone else to attend to his fanbase he felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Maria was Steven's favourite receptionist; now she was his personal assistant. After the first interview he found that more and more people wanted to see him and do business, so not only was she going through the mail, she was also in charge of planning his life.

"I feel like I barely have time to be champion," Steven said one afternoon.

"Well at least you don't get too many challengers," she said. "Someone wants to know what your favourite cake is."

"Chocolate." Steven had also given Maria access to his accounts so she could monitor those messages too.

"A perfume company wants you in their next advert."

"I guess I can agree to that."

"And Wallace is downstairs."

"What? Since when?" Steven jumped up and threw his jacket on.

"Since you agreed to have lunch with him today."

"Them."

"Apologies. You're going to that new café that just opened."

Steven nodded. "I remember. See you later."

"Wallace!" Steven hugged his friend. "Sorry for the wait."

"I was just admiring this helix fossil. I didn't know they could be so big."

"This one's from Kanto – Brock sent it over. I would have it revived but it's just too cool!" Steven stared at the fossil in amazement.

"But you could have an omanyte this big."

"I could, but I'd rather have everyone admire it like this. The big guy'll live forever in this form."

"I suppose omanyte isn't part steel."

Steven grabbed Wallace's arm and began to lead them away. "I'm not typist, I just know I wouldn't be able to give it the attention it deserves. Besides, it's Brock's find."

They walked down the streets until they came across the café which at the city's edge, built where the trees began. An illumise and volbeat were painted on the sign.

"This looks very cute," Wallace said. They walked in and found a table by an open window, looking back at the city.

"The city seems so far away, even though we haven't left."

Lunch was always a healthy affair when Wallace was involved. Salad and fresh fruits with tea, even though Steven was up for some chocolate cake after Maria's question earlier.

"So, how is the new recruit? Is it all working out for you?" Wallace asked.

"She's great, very professional. I don't know what I'd do without her to be honest. I'm still wondering how you do it alone."

"It's a simple answer, dear, you have a full time job unlike me. Sure, a gym leader's workload is more than the champion's, but if I ever need to do contest things Juan is there to hold the fort."

Steven smirked. "So I should give up working at Devon?"

"Doesn't your work involve at least one day a week in caves? I doubt you'd give that up."

"Dream bigger, Wallace, I could be in caves every day if I left."

"And sell rocks for a living? A risky business."

"It's an idea, but I wouldn't leave Father for some caves. Enough about me and my whining – sorry, I seem to do that a lot these days – how about you?"

Wallace's face contorted as they tried to contain their smile. "So, you remember I told you about the Wallace Cup? Well, I've officially made an application to set the wheels in motion."

"That's great!"

"It'll be a while yet, ironing out details of the competition, finding judges and places to hold it, all of that boring stuff, but it could be that this time next year it'll be an actual thing."

"I'm so excited! I want front row seats." Steven clapped. He was no contest buff, but he really appreciated all the effort coordinators put into training their Pokémon. Arceus knows he didn't have the patience for it.

 **OooO**

The small print of contracts were often skimmed over by Steven, usually because his father would double check them before signing anything. Sadly, as this was not Devon business, the contract checking had been left to Maria and himself, and they hadn't exactly been thorough.

"Was this in the contract?" Steven asked as he stood in the dressing room staring at the flesh coloured pouch he'd been given.

Maria was on her PokéNav, frantically skimming the email.

There was a knock on the door. "Mr Stone, is everything okay?"

Steven opened the door. "Please give me a few minutes, something has come up."

"Er…here it is. 'Model agrees to be dressed as directed by the creative director' and then…wow it lists many things, painted, covered in food, and there it is, naked. Although it does say genitals covered, so there's that at least."

"Well, I feel bad for not reading that."

"It's a general modelling contract to be fair, although prior warning would have been appreciated."

Steven shrugged off his jacket. "I guess they saw my previous photoshoots and thought I would be fine with this."

Maria stood up. "So, you're going through with this?"

Steven nodded. It wouldn't do to destroy his reputation now; he didn't want people to think he was fussy.

"I'll let them know." Maria stepped out, leaving Steven to undress.

It started out better than expected. He went from a robe to a bed of silk and chiffon where they directed him into poses and took photos as well as long shots. Nothing taxing, he just had to hold a pose and look good. Then they got a few fans out and he had the task of looking good while his hair was flying in all directions. More shots of him gazing into the distance followed before he was introduced to another actor. Steven looked at Maria, eyebrows raised, asking 'was this also in the contract?' Maria shrugged dramatically before turning to her Nav to find that clause. There was nothing to be done now, but at least they'd know.

The blonde girl who had walked in was also nude, barring some silk draped over her form, and Steven realised this was about to get ten times more uncomfortable. It started out with some longer shots of her approaching him, but soon it was time to get up close and personal.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he was directed to place his arm across her chest to cover her.

"It's all part of the job," she said as he reached up to put her arms around his neck, back to him.

"Not a job I'll be doing again."

They held the poses while Steven prayed that there would be no more. The photographers flicked through their cameras, checking with the director before the shoot was declared to be finished. Steven rushed off set immediately, happy to be reunited with his clothes.

"So it turns out they mentioned you'd be filming with another actor. It was a short sentence tacked onto a large paragraph on how the day would go," Maria said once they had left.

"Well, I think we learned a lot today. Before I go signing up for anything like this again we need to find out exactly what it entails."

"Agreed. But for what it's worth I think you did a good job."

"Really? I felt awkward as fuck – sorry, I mean I felt really awkward, astoundingly so." He didn't like to swear around his colleagues, even though Maria was not really in that category anymore. The nature of her work had required her to be more of a friend - a work-friend? He didn't really know how to describe their relationship, but the word colleague seemed cold and inappropriate.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I promise I'll be more thorough next time. Don't let it get to you. You did the job and the director didn't make you do any retakes."

"I suppose. Are you okay to get back to Rustboro?"

Maria nodded and threw a pokéball. Her swellow appeared and she hopped on. "See you next week."

He waved before letting his own skarmory out for the ride back to Mossdeep.

 **OooO**

To repay their recent kindness, Steven had invited his aqua-haired friends over to his house for once. Lisia hadn't been able to make it due to her monthly fan meet-and-greet, but Wallace had arrived in the early afternoon.

"Honestly, Wallace, it was just terrible," Steven said as he began to slice a lemon cake – Wallace's favourite.

"You make it sound like they were making you star in porn."

"Well, now you say that, wouldn't you class these kinds of adverts as borderline softcore porn?"

Wallace looked thoughtful. "Yeah, I'll give you that. Still, it's a great story for your first filming experience."

"Don't you have any modelling stories?" He set the cake down in front of Wallace who smiled at the small sized slice – he knew Wallace wouldn't appreciate it being any larger.

"I only really do clothes modelling, so the worst story I have is the time someone hired me for womenswear and when they found out I didn't possess a female body they dropped me on the spot."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. Didn't you say they should have read your profile before hiring?"

Wallace smirked. "Just like you should have read your contract. But yes, I was flattered nonetheless that they hired me based only on photos."

"We can be too good looking together," Steven joked.

Wallace stared at him. "Interesting idea."

Steven looked confused.

"What if we did a photoshoot together, perhaps for your rock business?"

"Ooh, what if you picked out your favourites and we did a collection called Wallace's Stones?" It wasn't the most creative name, but was in-line with the business's name of Steven's Stones.

"We should try and do some water shots using the gym's pool. Oh my, I have so many ideas…"

They were off in a world of their own, throwing ideas back and forth until they had perfected their vision of how they wanted their campaign to look. They toured Steven's rock collection, looking for suitable ones for Wallace's idea. It didn't take long for a mock photoshoot to happen, Wallace holding those they liked while they draped themself across Steven's bed.

"This was you in the original ads," Wallace laughed as they struck a pose.

"Hey, my face didn't look that ridiculous!"

"I need more fabric around me, this cotton bedsheet isn't enough. Where's the silk, darling?"

Steven rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry I'm allowing you to lie on such coarse fabric, your highness, but it adds to my rock aesthetic."

"You need to have a cave photoshoot too! Let me plan all your future ad campaigns."

"Damn, you're on fire tonight," Steven said. "Bottom floor of Shoal Cave, surrounded by ice…"

Another session of planning commenced, both of them laying on the bed and fiddling with the stones as they talked. The sun had set by the time they had finished.

 **OooO**

"Wallaaaace, I blame you for this."

Wallace gave Steven a thumbs up and tightened their scarf. Meanwhile Steven was being told to lie on the ice of Shoal's deepest floor. He had been cold enough just standing around with his shirt open, and kneeling on the ice had been more than enough chill for one day. Still, for the sake of Wallace's vision he lowered himself to the ground, back arching at first as he tried to get used to the cold.

"Maybe you should give me that scarf to lie on."

"If you stop complaining it'll be over before you know it. And hey, at least I'm keeping your jacket warm." The black garment was draped over Wallace's shoulders, something they were grateful for when they realised long sleeves wouldn't be enough to keep them warm. "What about a shirtless shot?"

Steven laughed dryly. "How about a very swag shot with me back in my jacket with the cravat? Maybe with glasses – I hear my fans really like that."

Wallace shrugged. "Glasses or nipples? Tough choice."

The photographer chimed in, "I'd suggest a suit shot seeing as we've got shirtless shots in the water shoot."

Steven smiled. "I'll be taking this back." He removed his jacket from Wallace and threw it back on. "It's times like this I wish I trained fire Pokémon."

Soon enough it was over and Steven was glad to ascend back to daylight. He stood on the sand and looked up at the sun, letting its rays warm him, something he rarely took pleasure in.

"Be careful, Steven, you might burn," Wallace jested.

"Piss off, you and your freezing ideas."

"Aw, still cold?" They walked forward to embrace him. "But I'll remind you that it was _you_ who suggested the ice floor. I merely suggested a cave."

"Then it's your fault for letting me go ahead with it." He shrugged Wallace off and began to jog on the spot. "Those hot springs in Lavaridge would really hit the spot right now."

"Shall we?"

"What? Seriously?" Steven hadn't meant to imply they should go.

"If you want to travel over there, I'll go with."

Steven considered it. "If we take Aerodactyl we can make it in about half an hour, but you better be ready for the ride of your life."

A very windswept pair arrived in Lavaridge. Wallace was holding onto Steven for dear life, their hat scrunched up in one hand.

"Wallace, you can let go now."

Slowly they released their grip and Steven jumped off.

"Can you give me a hand?"

Steven reached up and helped them down.

"I don't know how you were planning to get back later, but I am not doing that again."

Steven smiled as he quickly ran a hand through his hair, fixing it back into place. He petted Aerodactyl and fed him some berries before returning him to his pokéball.

Wallace had been preoccupied with trying to fix their hat and make themself presentable.

"Shall we?" Steven led the way into the Pokémon Centre which housed the entrance to the hot springs.

The warm water was a welcome feeling to the both after their wild ride – at least that's how Wallace viewed it. They were surprised to learn that Steven often used Aerodactyl to get around, although it made sense seeing as Ever Grande and Rustboro were so far from each other.

Steven laid back against a rock and closed his eyes. "This is nice and relaxing. Thank you for suggesting we follow through with this idea."

"Aren't my suggestions always great?"

Steven opened his eyes to stare them out. "We'll have to see if freezing my butt off in a cave was worth it. I better get double the amount of suggestive letters."

"Is that how you measure success now?" Wallace smirked.

"N-no, I mean, I want to sell more rocks." He sighed. "I guess that's just how I expect my 'fans' to react. Not that I know what I'm being sent with Maria dealing with that side of things."

"Ignorance is bliss? How is the social media going? I see your posts, but how many do you actually write?"

"The general rule is if a photo is posted then it was me, but otherwise it's Maria."

Wallace nodded. "Well, I was fooled. She does a good job to make it sound like you, even down to the emojis."

"Well, we talk a lot in real life and over the Nav. I'd hope she was able to replicate my style."

Wallace was staring at the water, ideas forming in their mind. "What about a hot spring shoot?"

Steven was speechless. "Wallace, we literally have just done two shoots and they haven't even been published. Maybe we should slow down."

"I just really love planning these things. It's the contest coordinator in me."

"What else can we do here that we haven't already done?" Steven asked.

Wallace smiled, glad to be asked. "We've marketed your products with a male face, drawing in young women, soon we'll market with me, non-binary, but still with a male physique, which will be interesting to see who jumps for that. But then we haven't got someone who draws the heterosexual male eye. I propose we also use a female model."

"Uh-huh, that sounded like a really long-winded explanation to get me to agree to letting you organise another photoshoot."

"I just think we should have equal representation in your marketing strategy."

Steven shrugged. "Alright then, I suppose I can agree to one more. I'm thinking we go for the obvious choice."

Wallace furrowed their brow, unsure of who they were meant to be thinking of.

"Roxanne is literally the rock-type gym leader."

"Of course. So…"

There were many more ideas between them, although it was a lot harder to come up with a course of action when the person is question hadn't agreed to any of this.


	3. The Plan

With Steven's Stones gaining popularity Steven was spending a lot more time making the stones look presentable in the evenings. If things continued like this he'd have to hire someone else to help him, but he loved doing this alone. The satisfaction he got when he'd finally extracted precious gems from the rock was unbeatable. With a bit of music in the background it made for a very relaxing activity.

Today he wasn't sure he wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. At first he had been thinking about the last few days and how he'd had a lot of fun with Wallace, but then he started thinking about how nice it would have been to have ended their long day at Lavaridge by snuggling with a movie. Arms around each other, maybe resting his head on Wallace's shoulder.

"Stop," he said aloud. He didn't want these thoughts and least of all about his best friend. To help break his thought pattern he picked a tougher rock which would require more attention. This was nothing to worry about; he occasionally had feelings like this, but they were always fleeting and no doubt he'd wake up tomorrow and all would be back to normal. Still, a little self-love tonight wouldn't hurt.

 **OooO**

"I see you updated your bio," Maria said as she opened her notes on the Nav.

"Well you said it was a frequent question, along with my birthday, so now I have both out there for all to see."

"I can't wait for your birthday; I imagine you'll be receiving some very interesting gifts."

Steven groaned. "I hope not. They could all give me a great gift by buying my rocks, and I mean the rocks no one seems to want. Like why doesn't anyone love heat rocks?"

"I'm sure you can employ Wallace's grand ideas to sell more of them. Haven't you run out of sapphires because of their ads?"

"They did a good job with that one. Maybe I'll ask…"

Maria cleared her throat. "Anyway, I should inform you that you've had an influx of new messages based on the updated bio. A lot of people haven't heard of the term and ask if you're gay – might I suggest one of us posts a short description or refer them to a search engine?"

"Did these people not go to school?" Steven sighed.

"Yes, some did and ask if you're a plant."

"School has failed them."

"EeveeFan12 asks if you're a rock, which I found slightly more amusing." Maria continued to scroll down her list. "Don't worry, the invasive fans are still around, some shocked that this implies you could be a virgin, others asking if you masturbate. Although I think the worst ones are the ones saying you haven't found the right person yet - and the few ensuring you that one night with them will change your mind."

Steven had his head in his hands. "Wallace warned me about this. I'd like you to throw up a dictionary definition and then answer some of the general asexuality questions to please them. I feel bad leaving them hanging, so we should give them something to chew on."

Maria nodded and got to work. Steven turned back to his stones, now using all the time he had to polish more.

"Would you like to comment on your romantic orientation?"

Steven frowned, it was a good question, but he had specifically left that part out. "I… You can tell them I'm aromantic, but – no, don't." He tapped his fingers on the table. "Say that I'm still questioning that."

"Ooh, they'll like that. Maybe you'll start receiving cute romantic messages."

"Urgh, maybe I shouldn't answer then."

In general things seemed to be pretty good for Steven, but for that reason he was able to concentrate on the smallest of problems. At the moment that problem was whether or not he was aromantic. For the longest time he had firmly believed in the labels he had chosen, but recently he had been having more of these sweet romantic scenarios pop into his mind, be they with someone he knew or an unknown face. It made him doubt himself, and wonder if he should be searching to fill this gap. _But is there a gap? Do I really need someone like that in my life?_ Steven shook his head in frustration and returned to the rock before him. Yes, rocks were good. Rocks didn't make him question his life.

 **OooO**

"Wallace, how do you know when you want a romantic relationship?" Steven asked as they were getting ready to curl up and watch a film in the Champion's suite.

"That's a tough question, especially if you wanted an easy answer." They fluffed the pillows on the bed. "I guess you just know. Personally it takes a bit of getting to know someone and then one day it just clicks that being in a more personal relationship could be interesting. For me it's like sexual attraction, but on a longer timescale."

"How long for each?"

"Well, sexual attraction is pretty instant – you see the person and think damn, I'd like a piece of that. But romantic depends. Could be a week, a month… But why ask me? I've not got the best track record of successful relationships."

Steven dodged the question, not sure if it warranted an answer. "You and Winona had a good run, didn't you?"

Wallace laughed. "When did we start dating? When did we stop? No one knows. We were always cut out to just be good friends. And that's the problem – how do you figure out the difference? I don't think I've managed it yet, but I'm still young. Be glad that you're aromantic, Steven, it must be a much easier life."

Steven said nothing. Usually he'd take pleasure in laughing at Wallace's misfortune, but if this was the kind of questioning he'd be signing up for he needed to kill his feelings now.

"Steven…are you…? Did you ask me about this because you actually needed advice?"

Not knowing what to say, Steven shoved his face into a pillow. He had an inkling that his face was quite red right now.

A hand patted him on the back. "Come on, you can tell me about it. Who is it?"

 _No no no._ First rule, don't tell Wallace it was them in the most recent fantasy. Steven proceeded to pour out all of his feelings and how they were so fleeting but becoming too common for his liking, and Wallace listened to every word.

"I would like to suggest that maybe you try a romantic relationship with someone to see if you like it, but until then I'll always be here if you need someone to hug."

Steven threw his arms around them and squeezed them tight. "Thank you for listening, Wallace. I really want to follow your advice, but…I'm worried. How do I find someone who will understand that I want them sometimes, but not all the time and not in all the ways they might think I do? Wallace, this is too complicated for me."

"It's all about communication. I'm not saying dive into one immediately, you need to get to know them first, and they you."

Steven hummed. "I think I'm out of relationship talk for one day. Let's watch the film." He grabbed the remote to press play and relaxed back into Wallace. The other patted him on the head affectionately.

 **OooO**

It was time for an experiment. Steven's feelings for Wallace had come about after spending quite a bit of time together, so now he would try to replicate this with another friend. Roxanne had agreed to take part in his ad campaign and so he took the opportunity to have lunch with her several times in the weeks leading up to it. He realised that maybe he should meet with her more often seeing as they worked literally 5 minutes from each other, but then when people were so close you just assumed you'd see them.

"We really want to have your input as much as possible, so it'd be great if you had a think about how you want your collection to look."

"I did have a little think," she said. "I want it to be classy and smart, but also rugged and earthy."

"How were you planning to combine those?"

Roxanne pressed her fingers together. "I wanted to keep it local, so I was hoping we could use part of the gym as the back drop, providing the natural rock formations. Then there's me looking smart, like I don't belong with these rocks. It's a contrast, but that's exactly what the aesthetic of my gym is and I'd like to show that in my collection."

"It sounds good to me," Steven said. "I'm guessing you, as a fellow rock enthusiast, have some ideas as to which pieces you'd like in the collection?"

"I do, but I'd like to see what else you have to offer."

"We keep them in Devon's basement, so I'll arrange a time for you to come and peruse."

 **OooO**

The plan wasn't working. He had several ideas as to why, the top one being he was trying to force this feeling to happen. The other came from careful analysis of previous feelings. He found that more often than not if the person in his fantasy was someone he knew it was someone he barely knew, someone who was still quite mysterious to him. The realisation then came that he had accidentally done to others what his fans had done to him at the start of his career – except he never told the person and wasn't enamoured completely.

Perhaps it was time for a fresh start with someone he didn't know? But where should he even begin to look? It would be easy to post online and have his fans queuing to see him, but he wanted someone who didn't know much about him either.

Of course he knew where to look. Why wouldn't he start by looking for people with similar interests? His next caving trip would involve more than looking for rocks; he would be scoping out his fellow diggers.

Granite cave was the first place he'd try. It wasn't somewhere he went often and being a bit out the way he figured it would be quieter. Hopefully he wouldn't make a fool of himself. It didn't take long to find someone. They were crouched down, hammering away at the rock, so Steven began tapping around for his own spot, not ready to jump in just yet.

As he settled down to dig it began to dawn on him that he had no idea what he was doing. When he'd imagined it he'd never got past finding someone in the cave. How should he approach them? What should he say?

It turned out he didn't have to worry about that on this occasion.

"Yo, Steven Stone, current champion, isn't it?"

He looked up to what appeared to be a teenager, perhaps about 16. "Yeah, that's me."

"The name's Roy." The trainer stuck their hand out and Steven shook it. "I'm planning to take on the league this autumn, so I thought I'd introduce myself."

Steven smiled. "Well then, Roy, I do hope you make it to me. My Elite Four are a tough bunch."

"I've been training for years for this moment. I'm not as young as the standard entrant."

"You'd be surprised, although I say that as the champion who doesn't get to see the majority. I know a lot of young teens come through having just got all eight badges, but it takes skill to make it to me. Still, I wish you the best of luck."

Roy thanked him before moving on further into the cave.

So now he needed to iron out his plan. Had he been the one to approach Roy it would have been an awkward affair, _hey, fellow – oh wow this person is way younger than I thought. Abort._ What kind of age range should he be looking at? Maybe 20 at the youngest? He couldn't just go around asking people's ages before getting to know them. If anything he'd end up with a lot more friends with this barely thought-out plan.

He returned to chipping away at the rock. There was something within reach, so that was his excuse for not scoping out someone else. Carefully he broke away the rock until he could see part of an everstone. A very pleasing find indeed, they were so popular with breeders these days.

Stones in hand, Steven left the cave without any further attempt to make contact.


	4. The Contest

Devon was on the verge of releasing the latest PokéNav model, so work was becoming increasingly busy. As such, Steven found it very easy to procrastinate on issues of a personal nature.

He enjoyed these busy weeks more than usual. It gave him a real reason to step back from everything else – the social media, the rock business. For him it felt like a holiday.

Joseph Stone had not been oblivious to his son's marketing success, and so Steven was roped into many press releases and store appearances. By the end of it he was exhausted.

It was late on Sunday when he finally returned home to Mossdeep. Suddenly he was glad that his father had insisted he take tomorrow off. Steven fell onto his bed fully clothed, feeling quite ready to just sleep like that. However, his mind was still awake, not having caught up with his body. So he lay there, thinking. He thought about what he needed to return to on Tuesday with his business as well as Devon's release aftermath. At least Maria had been left in charge of Steven's Stones, so that should all be in order…

His day off had not been long enough. It had made him realise that he doesn't spend enough weekends lazing around at home. Of course he'd rather go out and do something like caving, but it had been such a nice change.

"How has everything been?" Steven asked Maria when he arrived back in the office.

"As predicted, sales are down, but you can't expect people to afford both stones and a new Nav. You've had a great response online to your appearances last week. People have enjoyed seeing you talk more technology and business."

"Is there anything pressing?"

"Not on our end. Of interest though, Wallace enquired about your next moves with Steven's Stones. I get the feeling they want to be involved in your next project."

He hadn't forgotten about Wallace, but he had been trying to keep his distance while work was busy. The last thing he needed was to spend the evening planning another ad campaign – which he did enjoy, but they had more than enough material to see them through the next year – and then possibly spend the night thinking about feelings he may or may not have.

"I'll get back to them. We haven't published Roxanne's shoot yet, have we?"

"No, that will be in the coming weeks. You might want to think about a New Year's themed campaign though – sales will definitely see an increase then. After that you can consider Valentine's Day."

"I see you have your own plans."

Maria smiled. "I'll leave the creative side to you and your creative minds, I'm just thinking about optimum marketing times."

The phone on Steven's desk rang. As much as he'd like to dwell on his own business, Devon was calling.

 **OooO**

Steven found himself in Sootopolis as soon as the weekend hit. Wallace had been thrilled to hear their services were needed for another shoot.

"To top it off we're going to do a little filming with this one."

Wallace was close to screeching. "Steven, I cannot thank you enough for choosing to place your trust in me."

"It's just a few seconds," Steven pointed out. "We've got a few screens around Devon and Rustboro we'd like to put ads on. Father said it would be nice to break up the tech ads with something like this."

"I shall make the most of what time I have. Let's go!" Wallace was practically running up the stairs, clearly unable to contain their excitement. "Steven, come on. I have been waiting over a month for you to get back to me on this."

He laughed, so pleased he could make his friend this happy.

Wallace, being a fabulous person, as well as a contest star, had a very large wardrobe one could walk into. It was full of interesting items, all perfectly arranged so that Wallace could find the item they desired.

"I realised I haven't even asked who's going to be starring in this barely thought out ad of yours."

"I was going to leave that up to you."

Steven was worried that soon Wallace would pass out from being given such free reign. He patted their shoulder to try and bring them back to reality.

"I have it," Wallace announced. "We will appeal to couples. New Year's is a time for family, but a beautiful gift such as this belongs to your other half. They will have matching outfits. While I hate to be the one to use stereotypes, I will craft traditional male and female outfits, although those wearing the outfits can be of any gender. Our setting will be here in Sootopolis, outside the Cave of Origin with the tree and the bridges… It will be night, everything will be lit with lanterns, maybe some volbeat and illumise too. I'm creating quite a romantic scenario here…yes, I think I will make the outfits red."

Wallace smiled at Steven, a signal that they had returned from their fantasy. Steven clapped, impressed by the quickly formulated plan. Had he been left to his own devices it probably would've taken several hours of looking at photos online for him to decide on a location, let alone the time of day and Pokémon involved.

They travelled deeper into the wardrobe where Wallace kept fabrics. One of their only weaknesses was the inability to not purchase nice fabric. Wallace always maintained that someday there would come a use for them all.

"Here it is!" Wallace pulled out a red silk brocade. It was decorated with gold branches and flowers. "Ooh, I have an idea, but…"

"Doubting your vision? It's been wonderful so far."

"No, I'm just not sure if you'd like it," Wallace admitted.

"Now you have to tell me, I'm thoroughly intrigued."

"I'm assuming you wanted to be one of the models as usual, so my question was who to pair you with. Someone who can pose as your romantic partner..."

Steven cocked an eyebrow, still unsure where Wallace was going with this. "Yeah, perhaps I don't want to be the model for once."

"Surely you should be. Roxanne is up next and your fanbase will be eagerly awaiting your return. So, why not find your partner model in the fanbase?"

Steven blinked. "Excuse me? What – what exactly are you suggesting?"

"You hold a competition over your various social media accounts to find a model for us." Wallace thought it was one of their best ideas to date. "I'm sure it'll be good for business too. Think of all the fans rising up again, trying to out-do each other for the chance to meet you and model alongside you."

Steven was still in shock. "Wallace, are you okay? I mean… I came to you once to keep the fans at bay and now you suggest this?"

"My dear Steven, I am only suggesting you meet one of them."

"I suppose…" He had briefly imagined several hundred fans congregating trying to get his autograph and photo. "Wait. You said competition – how does one enter and win?"

Wallace smiled. "I'm glad you asked. Obviously I can't have an anonymous face win. They need to fit with my theme. As fabulous as the punkiest person with a pointy pink Mohawk is, they wouldn't fit in this time. So, we ask your fans to submit a photo of themselves and their favourite stone. That way I get to pick my perfect model and you might get to see some cool stones."

"Thank you for thinking of me. For peace of mind, let's also add a condition that they have to be of a certain age."

Wallace nodded. "I will message Maria so she can put it out there. Then the fun will begin."

"You're too organised for me."

As well as being a wardrobe for clothes, the room also had a dressing table lined with make-up, sewing supplies and a book. Wallace opened the book to a blank page and scribbled a few words in. Then they took the measuring tape and let it unroll.

"Take your jacket and waistcoat off."

Steven did as instructed. "Not the shirt?"

"I can deal with a little fabric in my way." They started to take chest measurements. "Most of the time I have people measured in their underwear, but that's because they're usually unusual people. They like to make their clothes work for them and change how they look. How can I make clothes for you if I can't figure out how you're making them work for you?"

"Sounds a lot more complicated than I thought."

"Well, I don't exactly attract your average fashionable person. To be honest I wouldn't want to. If I devote any time to sewing I want it to be interesting. After all, it's just a side hobby I got into to help my own performances. Hold this," Wallace handed the top of the tape measure to Steven, pinning it to his shoulder. "Luckily I've seen enough of you to know what I'm working with." Wallace wrote the last few numbers down and proclaimed the measurements over. "We'll need to wrap up the competition in time for me to make the costume for our winner. Perhaps I'll even let them keep it."

"That would really raise the stakes."

"Anyway, enough of this cramped room, I'm sure you have many more things to tell me about. Ah, yes, that was it – did you get any further in your romantic endeavours?"

Steven laughed. "No. I…um, I gave up."

"Aw, and here I was hoping for some fun stories."

"I have one 'story' about my failure, but it's not interesting."

"Tell me."

Steven sighed and recounted the time in Granite cave where he found someone, spoke to them, and then chickened out of looking for anyone else.

"And then you gave up?"

"Yeah, it just seems like so much effort. I'm sure I told you that I sometimes feel like I want romance and then the next day I don't. Recently I've had a lot of days when I don't even consider it, so I just haven't bothered."

Wallace hummed. "Last time we spoke about this you seemed to have a little thing for someone." Steven tried his hardest to not seem fazed at all that Wallace had remembered this fact. "Did those feeling disappear too?"

If he lied, Wallace would be able to tell. "I don't know. I've been pretty busy lately that I haven't really thought about…" He was going to insert a pronoun, but it felt like a giveaway if he said 'they' even though it was the obvious choice to keep it ambiguous. Perhaps he should have said another pronoun just to throw Wallace off. "…the person in question."

"Well, if those feeling do recur then perhaps you should tell this person. I guess it will be the best way to figure out if you do want a romantic partner," Wallace suggested. "Unless you're being so secretive because this person is already in a relationship?"

Most of his friends weren't in relationships, so it seemed silly to not answer the question honestly. "No, I just… Wallace, I have a hard enough time admitting these feelings to myself when I have them, so talking about them aloud is really…tough."

"Apologies, let's move on. How about a walk – we can go and visualise the photoshoot up by the cave."

"Can I go in the cave?" Steven smiled like a child, hoping to get Wallace's approval.

"Maybe another time."

A pouted followed. "Why do you never say yes? It's the one cave I haven't been in in Hoenn."

"Because we lock it up – you know all of this. And what are you going to do? Dig with your hands?"

Steven shrugged and followed them out the door.

 **OooO**

"We've already had over 100 entrants," Maria commented. "It's only been 3 hours since I posted about it."

"Are there some good ones?" Steven asked as he tucked into his lunch.

"I haven't really paused to have a look, just sectioned them into a folder for easy browsing."

Steven clicked through on his PC. As much as he liked eating outside, being in his office on a rainy day did have its perks. "Okay, I doubt this person is 20, but that's a really cool helix fossil."

"We will, of course, do more thorough checks when you narrow it down."

"Oh wow, this person has lots of stones from our collection. I mean, this pose is a bit…unnecessary, but it's artistic rather than obscene." He was sure Wallace would enjoy going through these if people were actually going to put effort into posing and creating something noteworthy.

"Some fans have said they felt a little excluded that you've set an age barrier," Maria said as she scrolled down her Nav. "I've just received a message asking if you were going to do something like a fan meet."

"Hmm, I suppose I have barely met any of my fans properly." He had seen some around Rustboro, posing with them for a few photos, but nothing more than that. Everyone in Mossdeep and Sootopolis were so used to seeing him around that no one bothered him there. "I guess I should visit fans in cities like Slateport and Mauville. I didn't get a chance to see many of them during the Nav launch week."

"So I'll tell them you're working on it?"

"I guess. Then I'll have to find the time – perhaps next month." Then he would also have ample time to prepare himself for what would be tiring days.

 **OooO**

The start of October was a busy time for the League. Many young trainers came to test their might after training all summer. No doubt Roy would be among them, the only question was whether they made it far enough.

As Champion, Steven was obligated to stay at the League in the event of any challengers. It usually felt like a few weeks' holiday, although occasionally a boring one. Luckily, Wallace received hardly any challengers during this time and could provide some entertainment.

"So, I figured we could use this time to go through the entrants," Wallace said as they opened up their laptop.

"Oh, I thought you were going to do that… I mean, I didn't think my opinion would be useful."

"Of course it is. Perhaps you'll spot something I don't."

The competition had closed the night before and there were several thousand photos to go through, hoping to cut it down to a final 10.

"Seeing as this is going to take some time, I suggest we start with a quick round of yes or no. As soon as the photo comes up say whether to keep."

As they began to flick through, Wallace noticed that Steven was a very kind person who said yes to a lot more entrants than expected. At this rate it would take the whole week to narrow it down.

Wallace considered it a blessing when Steven's Nav rang.

"That was Glacia, apparently I could have a challenger. I'm going to head downstairs just in case."

"Did you want me to continue?" Wallace asked.

"Sure." Steven smiled. "I trust your judgement better than mine."

With Steven out of the way Wallace was free to go as fast as possible. With their vision in mind it was easy to make split second judgements. They got through twice the number of photos by the time Steven returned.

"I take it they managed defeat Drake?"

"Yeah, but they were pretty worn out by the time they got to me. I was left standing with three Pokémon."

Wallace shrugged. "Oh well, better luck next time I guess."

After all the interruptions of the day they had managed to get through over half of the entries. Wallace left before the evening session started, leaving Steven to go back to rock work. The life of those in the League was relaxing for most of the year except for the few weeks challengers liked to turn up en masse. Most months would pass with a few calls for him to be present in Ever Grande, but then October happens and he's 'working' (more like waiting) from 8 in the morning until 10 at night. The day could be shorter, but the Pokémon needed rest more than the trainers. People needed to give Sidney more recognition as he had to face every challenger that walked through the door.

When he'd finished carefully extracting a diamond from the rock he realised it was much later than he thought and the day was over. Perhaps his time here would pass much quicker than anticipated.

 **OooO**

On the fourth day, Wallace laid down the rules.

"Steven, you are a very kind person, but kindness will get us nowhere. Last night I decided to go through the entries myself and narrow us down to a final 100. The rules of today are this: I will show ten entries and together we will pick up to 5 per group. By the end of today I want us to be down to 50, ideally 25."

"I hate making hard decisions," Steven complained.

"Why do you think I am here?"

Steven, as expected, ensured that the maximum of 5 entries was picked in each group. Wallace sighed at some of his choices, particularly later on when it was clear they had already seen better entries. Still, they had decided to include Steven in the process, so they had to see it to the end.

The goal of 25 was reached and Wallace left once more. Steven had tried to drag out their stay, but Wallace had things to do as well. He hadn't had a challenger all day. One person had failed at Drake, so he'd gotten excited for nothing.

He picked up his work Nav and called Maria to tell her about the competition progress and ask about things back in Rustboro. As Steven's Stones was officially closed for business until his return there wasn't much to report.

As soon as their call ended, his League Nav rang. Glacia sounded sure about this one and he hurried down to await his challenger. He had perhaps been a little too quick to jump up, as he waited what seemed like an age for either the door to open or Drake to call.

It was the door that opened. A young person stepped into the room, a face Steven recognised.

"Roy!" He hoped Roy didn't find it odd that he remembered their name, but how could he forget what was an awkward affair to him.

"Good evening, Champion Steven, I'm glad you remember me."

Steven laughed sheepishly. "How could I forget someone who claimed they would definitely be seeing me?"

"I'm pleased to stand here, true to my word. Shall we?" Roy took a pokéball from their waist.

It was the most intense battle that week. Roy hadn't been lying at all when they said they were prepared to face him. It was clear that Roy had done some homework, ready to counter the types Steven was using. As always, Metagross was saved for last, his strongest Pokémon. The final test for all of his challengers was to beat Mega-Metagross.

Roy was in awe of the Pokémon before them. The beldum line was rare in Hoenn, so the chance to see a mega evolution was special. Still, Roy didn't pause for long. They were ready for this challenge too. Blaziken was called upon, probably Roy's first Pokémon. Steven knew he was probably going to lose. Even if he took out Blaziken, Roy still had Umbreon to fall back on.

Steven accepted defeat gracefully, congratulating Roy as soon as he had tended to Metagross.

"Well, that was the most fun I've had all week," Steven said. Roy grinned, still overwhelmed that they had prevailed. "Now, I invite you to the Hall of Fame."

It never failed to amuse him to watch the look of amazement on the faces of those who'd never seen the Hall before. Roy looked around in wonder before realising they had arrived at the station where pokéballs were laid to record their data.

"Now, Roy, I must ask if you want to become the champion of Hoenn."

"Oh." Roy snapped back to reality. "I don't want to right now. I'm still young - I have a lot of travelling to do yet."

"You make me feel old," Steven said. "But if you want to put your name down as a potential future champion talk to the admin at the front desk. She'll update your trainer card too."

"Is this it then?"

Steven took out his wallet and handed over Roy's winnings. "That concludes everything. Congratulations again, Roy."

Roy thanked him and was off. Well, at least Steven was still in a job. Not many people were up for the champion job in Hoenn. Apparently everyone had places to be travelling to, and Ever Grande wasn't one of them. He did hear that in the Indigo Plateau things were much more changeable.

 **OooO**

"Wallace…it's too hard," Steven moaned.

"We've already picked seven, you only need to pick 3 more."

Steven surveyed the photos once more. "Why don't you pick then?"

"Well, I believe our winner lies in the first seven, so this is really just your chance to give a few fans some hope."

"That sounds so mean." He decided to close his eyes and randomly point to the final three; that way he was unbiased…well, perhaps not seeing as he knew roughly which photo was where. "Will that do?"

Wallace nodded. "Right, then we'll get Maria to check all of their details to see if we need to drop anyone before we choose a winner."

"Oh no, that's going to be an even harder decision."

Wallace patted his head. "Don't worry, I'll be a lot more forceful with my vision when the time comes. I have a top 3."

"Are you off then?"

"Unfortunately for you, yes. Lisia has a contest today."

Steven sighed. "I wish I could come." There was no way he could afford to sneak out on the weekend. No doubt today he would have several challengers – ones that had taken time out before challenging the League and now worked the rest of the week. "That reminds me – what's happening with your contest – the 'Wallace Cup?'"

Wallace sighed as they fixed their hair and hat in the mirror. "My application got through the first stage, but seeing as I want to make it an official ranking contest I have to wait for more approvals. Anyway, time is ticking."

 **OooO**

"Fuck off… Fuck _off,_ " Steven whispered to himself. "No, don't do that. You're going to scratch the ruby at this rate." He didn't often talk to himself, but the last few days at the League had been quite lonely. Wallace hadn't been round since they were awaiting information from Maria, and the Elite Four were just as busy as him. Perhaps he could have invited Drake upstairs, but that might have been a bit odd. He was much better friends with Sidney and Phoebe, but they were the busiest.

Today his quiet life involving rocks had led to another session of thinking. Often he liked to think about where he would dig next, something to do with work, whether he should try to breed a shiny beldum. But he was running out of new things to think about while he was cooped up in Ever Grande. So naturally his brain decided to go back to romance. In particular, to his feelings about Wallace.

"All of these days we spent together and everything was fine. And now you bring up this shit? Again? I got over this!"

He put down the ruby he was holding – he didn't want to ruin all of his hard work. To be honest, he was angry and confused. Why did these feelings randomly decide to just pop up? Why couldn't they be constant so he knew what to do? And most importantly, why did they have to be about Wallace? He loved Wallace as much as a friend could but something inside him seemed to want to change that.

Right now he really wanted to talk to someone about this, but despite his popularity in the world, he had few people he felt close enough to contact about such things. Number 1 on the list was the person in question. Second would be his father (which was definitely not happening). Then there was a group of people like Sidney, Roxanne and Maria, who he might confide some things to. Well, at least he had another life goal: acquire another very good friend who was not Wallace or his father.

"Nope." Steven stood up and walked into the bathroom. A shower would refresh him. When he walked out of the shower he definitely would not be thinking about romance, feelings or Wallace. _He would not._


	5. The Happening

Several days later the entrants for the October League rush had all had their opportunity and Steven was back at Devon. There was work to be done and he relished the chance to be busy again.

"I've just received the last entrant's form," Maria said.

"Are they all eligible?"

"One of them can't prove their age and another is away in Unova during the timeframe we set for the shoot."

"Oh?" Steven realised he was quite out of the loop. "When is it?" He had plans to get back to Ever Grande – being able to see Victory Road but not have the time to devote some quality hours in there had been painful.

"I'm giving you until Friday to pick the winner, then Wallace has two weeks to complete their outfit before the shoot."

That reminded him – he hadn't asked Wallace about the progress on his outfit.

He dialled Wallace on his Nav to tell them all of this.

"I'm quite aware," Wallace said. "Maria emailed me immediately."

"Oh. Of course." He should have realised that. "So we've only got a few days to choose, when did you -?"

"We can do it tonight if you want. Sooner is better for me, as you can imagine. I'm working late, so best if you come to mine – if that's no problem, of course."

"Sounds good, I was hoping to see how my outfit was coming along."

Wallace hummed. "I suppose I can let you see. I wanted it to be a surprise, but yes, I should make sure it fits you well before we put you in front of a camera."

For the rest of the day Steven was quite excited. He couldn't wait for the day to end and for Skarmory to whisk him away to Sootopolis.

He had arrived just a bit too early in his excitement; Wallace didn't appear to be home yet. Off he strolled to the gym to the surprise of Wallace standing there in a bathing suit, instructing a small class in the gym's pool.

"Joey, you need to believe in yourself," Wallace said. "I can see you giving up halfway through."

"I can't do it!" the child cried. "It's too scary."

The other children seemed to be getting along just fine, learning to do flips in the water. Wallace slid into the pool and seemed to be giving Joey a small pep talk before helping them to achieve their first flip.

"I did it!" A few children that had been watching clapped.

Wallace climbed back out and noticed Steven standing by the door. They clapped to catch the children's attention. "You've all done very well today. I want you to keep practising so you can all impress Juan next week."

They began to file out of the pool and once they were all into the changing rooms Wallace came over.

"You're early," Wallace said.

"There wasn't as much to do today," Steven explained. "Since when did you teach children?"

"Quite unlike me, I know, but Juan isn't too well. Not the best idea to jump into a cool pool with a cold and hope the kids don't catch it."

"I thought you were doing a fine job. Perhaps you should think about doing it more often."

Wallace shrugged. "I wouldn't mind, but I'm sure I'd get sick of it after a while. Anyway, give me 5 and I'll be ready to go."

It felt very odd to watch Sootopolis gym be locked for the evening. The League building, as it had a Pokémon Centre at the base, was open all night for any trainers that had been lost in Victory Road and only just made it out.

"So, I was talking to Winona and she said there was a distinct lack of advertising Steven's Stones in Fortree."

"Do they advertise anything in Fortree?" Steven asked. "I went there once and it was like a small village among the trees."

"You're right, but they have PokéMarts and Centres. Winona thinks that your rocks would go down well over there. Ah, yes, she said that because they're surrounded by trees things like stones and fossils are considered to be rare and expensive items."

"I'll certainly ask Maria about this. She deals with that side of things. I personally don't care about shoving adverts in people's faces like some companies; I figure those that want what I'm offering will find us online and by word of mouth."

Wallace smiled. They really liked that Steven was such a simple person at times.

"So can I see the outfit?" Steven asked not long after they walked through the door.

"Oh no, that is your reward for helping me to pick the winner."

"Okay then, you said you had a top three?"

Wallace nodded and pulled up the three images on screen. "So, what are you thinking?"

"They all look good enough to win… I guess I would pick based on who has the better rock collection."

"And who is that in your opinion?"

"Aaah they're all fine collections. This person has all emeralds and it really plays up their green eyes, an excellent artistic choice I'm sure you'll agree. But then we have the more colourful collection of precious gems in the order of the visible spectrum. However, my personal favourite is this one," he pointed, "because they haven't been afraid to include a large variety of different rocks, stones and fossils – and their omanyte is so cute!"

"So, you've chosen our winner?"

Steven looked distressed. "I don't know, I was just giving my opinion on their rocks – don't make me choose, Wallace."

"Well, I am choosing based on what you just said." Wallace clicked through to find the corresponding email. "Her name is Shion and she's 21. Breeds Pokémon for a living. I'll email Maria to let her know."

Steven sighed and laid back on the sofa. "I'm glad that's finally over."

"You act as if it was so hard."

"It was!"

Wallace laughed. "I'm surprised you don't just let people into the Hall of Fame if you're such a softie at heart." Steven frowned. "I wouldn't change you though. Let's go and see your outfit."

Steven beamed and jumped up. Once again he found himself in Wallace's 'wardrobe' and there on a dress form was the beautiful red fabric in a kimino-style shirt and jacket, white silk adorning the edges, the outfit was completed with white hakama trousers.

"Wallace, this is amazing!" Steven carefully touched the fabrics.

"Thank you, I did try. Let's get it on you then." Wallace began to carefully remove the garments while Steven undressed. "Do you know how to put these on?"

Steven stared at the hakama which, once off the dress form, did not seem as straightforward as first appeared. "It can't be too difficult, right?"

"I always wondered whether your parents had dressed you up as a child. Clearly you've never lived a day out of a suit."

"My mother used to do that kind of thing," Steven said. "I remember when I was about 5 we attended a festival on the beach of Mossdeep and I was dressed in something a bit like this. It was really hard to run about in, but Mother said I looked beautiful."

They were both quiet for a moment; it wasn't often Steven spoke about his mother. She had passed away when he was seven.

"When the next festival came around she asked me what I wanted to wear because I was now a 'big boy' and could choose. I told her I preferred things like Father wore, so she got me a suit to match his that year." He took a deep breath. "Oh I wish you hadn't asked now – I'm probably going to cry when I see myself in the mirror." He could already feel himself tearing up at the memories.

"I'm sorry, Steven."

"You didn't know. But now you know something else about me."

Wallace smiled. "You would think after all these years I would know everything. Come here." Steven walked forward and instinctively gave Wallace a hug. "I meant let's try on the clothes, but a hug is good too."

"Oh right, yeah." He pulled away and let Wallace dress him. Who knew traditional clothing was so complicated?

"Now, do you want to look in the mirror, or would you rather not?" Wallace asked.

Steven nodded. "Might as well get it out of the way now. Imagine if the photos come through while I'm at work and I just break down in the office – what if Father found out and I set him off too!"

"I'll go and make some tea," Wallace said. "Make sure you move around in it so you can let me know if anything needs adjusting."

Once Wallace had closed the door Steven turned to face the full length mirror on the back wall. The sight took his breath away – Wallace was a master of their craft, even if they pretended not to be. He looked amazing and he was sure his mother would agree if she could see him now.

He wiped his eyes. Why was it so hard for him to think about her right now? After all these years why did it still hurt this much? Perhaps it was because he never had the chance to fully get to know her. Perhaps he never really had the chance to talk about her with only his father to ask. He remembered seeing how her death had affected him and had decided not to mention her or ask all those burning questions he'd had over the years. Was ice her favourite type because she had a sealeo? What was her favourite song? How did she meet his father? Maybe one day he would ask.

There was a gentle knock at the door followed by Wallace entering with the promised tea. "How is everything?" they asked quietly.

Steven needed another hug and Wallace was glad to accept. "Thank you, it's beautiful," Steven whispered. "Shall we have some tea?"

They sat on the stools at the dressing table, silently sipping their tea. Wallace waited until Steven broke the silence when he put down his cup.

"It's getting late, I guess I should think about heading home."

Wallace glanced at the clock. "Wow, I guess I did get out of the gym quite late."

They quickly did their own checks on the outfit before Steven was allowed to take it off and go home.

"Thank you again, Wallace. I'm looking forward to the shoot even more now."

"Have a safe journey home, and remember I'm always here if you need anything." It had been quite a shock to see Steven so emotional, they would be lying if they said they weren't a little worried.

 **OooO**

"Are you okay?"

"Wallace, I'm fine," Steven insisted. "Honestly, I know I had a moment last time I put this on, but I was just a little sad at the memories I forgot I had."

"Alright. Don't fall into the pond." Wallace straightened the jacket one last time, even though everything wasn't set up yet and Steven would no doubt need another outfit fixing before the cameras rolled.

Steven watched as people set up lights, some to act as the main lighting sources this evening, others for decoration. The tree on this small island was decorated too, lots of red and white to match the outfits. He didn't have much to do other than watch as the set was assembled. Maria came over and gave him her Nav to play with seeing as Wallace had made him leave his at their house. She was busy helping and directing Wallace's vision, something he'd been told to stay out of so he looked perfect until the shoot.

It wasn't too long before he heard a high pitched squeak and a person in red came rushing towards him, as fast as they could in the shoes Wallace had provided.

"Steven Stone!"

Now it was time to be his usual charming self. "Hello, you must be Shion."

She bowed, mainly because she felt that's what one should do in such a dress. "I'm so glad I could finally meet you – thank you for choosing me!"

Steven motioned for her to sit down with him. "Well you should thank Wallace too. They were the one that pointed me in your direction."

"I can't thank them enough – look at how gorgeous we look tonight."

"They are so talented. You look amazing in that dress."

Her breath hitched and she couldn't stop smiling. To be personally complimented by Steven Stone was any fan's dream come true.

Steven decided to bring her back down to earth. "I was really taken by your rock collection in your entry photo."

"I love all my rocks so much!" she said with excitement. "I couldn't choose which ones to have, so I tried to have them all."

"I kept finding more and more every time I looked at the photo. Which is your favourite?"

"Steven, no, you can't just ask which is my favourite!" she was exasperated. "I love them all equally. I mean, maybe I like rose quartz just a tiny bit more, after all my hair is the same colour."

"It is a lovely colour. And a nice choice too." She seemed to be overwhelmed at the compliment again. "Do you – well, I was going to ask about your favourite fossil, but would it be safe to assume it's omanyte?"

"Yes! Just after I sent the photo I hatched a shiny one and I thought it was a sign or something."

"Oh wow, do you have it with you?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't think to bring him along. He's still young and low-levelled so he doesn't have a spot on the team yet."

Wallace clapped their hands. "Attention all! We're ready to shoot."

Steven was so glad that they had chosen Shion. After their short conversation he felt very at ease and found it quite easy to act the way Wallace was directing him to. Everything about the scene was romantic, except when he looked back to see the crew with the cameras.

He continued to talk to Shion, asking her to send a photo of her shiny Pokémon, but soon enough Wallace came over to escort her to her ride home. It seemed like the evening had been over in minutes, but she assured him it had been one of her favourites. The crew began to pack away, leaving Steven to his own devices once more.

"What about the lights?" Steven asked, noticing the crew were starting to leave without those on the tree and the bridge.

"Wallace asked for them to be left, I guess they have other plans," Maria said. "Anyway, I think we're all done here. I will see you on Monday. See you, Wallace!" She waved to the figure in the distance.

"Well, that was fun," Wallace said as they approached. "Shion didn't want to leave, but she's safely on her way home. How did you find this?"

"This has been a lovely evening, thank you." He moved in to hug Wallace. "Everything was so perfect, I really…" He could feel his heart start to race as all of those romantic feelings filled his mind. During the shoot he had kept them at bay for the sake of professionalism, but now that it was over they decided it was time to make Steven feel very awkward. He pulled away from Wallace, deciding to stare out towards the cave. Yes, the cave, an excellent choice to look at. He loved rocks, rocks were great – the best thing, yes.

"Steven?"

"Hm?" Damn one day he needed to persuade Wallace to let him into that cave.

"You kind of stopped mid-sentence."

"Oh." Oh shit, right, yes, he had to pay attention. "I…um." Maybe he had forgotten what he was saying because he was clearly thinking about ROCKS all this time.

A hand touched his chin and gently guided his face back to looking at Wallace. "Are you okay? Has this evening taken its toll on you?"

"Wallace…you… You did a good job making this a very romantic place, just look at these soft lights! And now I… I'm having feelings I don't know how to deal with so I'd very much like to just sit in a cave and wait for them go away."

Wallace placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Steven, we all get that sometimes. We can talk about it if you want."

"No!" That was entirely too quick and loud. "I mean, no… I… Wallace, you…" Okay, this was it, he was going to get it out of his system once and for all, but first he rested his head on Wallace's shoulder so the other couldn't look at his face. "You give me the feelings, Wallace." Not his most articulate confession, but he was sure Wallace knew what he was trying to convey.

"Oh…" There was a trace of shock in their voice. "And what would you – how would you like to deal with these feelings?"

The problem with all his day-dreaming was he either launched straight into the cute romantic stuff or he stopped at 'I am never going to tell Wallace about this.' This scenario hadn't been thought out in the slightest. He wanted to kiss Wallace, perhaps just on the cheek, and maybe that would do the talking, but suddenly all of his courage had left him.

"I…er…" He had a need to fill the silence with something. He needed to move this along. Why was Wallace still looking at him? _Just say you're not interested_.

Wallace brushed his cheek tenderly and Steven could feel the heat in his face rising. Did Wallace want a coherent answer at some point tonight?

"I want to…fuck…" Was he really going to just say it so plainly? Wait, why was Wallace looking at him like that? "No no no! I didn't mean – I just said fuck because I'm so nervous, I don't want to fuck anyone, you know that." Wallace had a huge smile on their face as they tried not to laugh. "I want to be…romantic uh…partners? Boyfriends? Datefriends? Arceus, Wallace, I like you a lot and I want to date you maybe, but I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"I'm up for that," Wallace said calmly. "I don't think we could ruin our friendship, as long as you're comfortable being more than friends and then going back to just friends if it doesn't work out."

"You and Winona seemed to do that just fine."

"True, but I just worry that it might not be so easy for you. As an aro-ace that hasn't been in a relationship it could be a bit awkward for you to date and then stop dating your best friend."

Steven's shoulders slumped. "If you don't want to do this, you just have to say. But also I guess these feelings mean I'm not aro. I believe demi-romantic may be a better term for what I am."

Wallace stroked his arm supportively. "I just wanted to make sure that you were sure about this." Their hand trailed down Steven's arm to interlink their fingers.

Steven looked down at their hands, almost bewildered that this was happening. "Do you even like me in such a way?"

"I've always found you to be very attractive. I was drawn in by your charisma and passion for what you do. I had a small crush on you not long after we met all those years ago. Then I got to know the real you and I fell deeper into that hole. I actually believe you were a contributing factor to why I went through that dating phase that culminated in me and Winona dating."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Steven asked.

Wallace shrugged. "For the same reason you've only just said something – I didn't think you would be interested and I didn't want to put any stress on our friendship. I worried you'd act differently around me if I told you."

"I…yeah, I might have."

"And by not saying a word we've managed to get to this point where we're both interested in making a relationship work." They moved in for a hug.

Steven enjoyed the hug, but there was only so much time once should embrace for in his opinion. "Wallace?"

"Hm?"

"You can let go now."

"Oh right, sorry, you were so warm."

Steven touched Wallace's bare arm. "You should have said you were cold. Let's get inside." Wallace began to turn. "Wait." Steven tip-toed slightly so he could kiss Wallace. It was a very brief peck on the lips, but he didn't want to leave the beautiful surroundings without doing something so romantically cliché. He briefly saw the shock on Wallace's face before taking them by the hand and leading them back home.

Already Steven could see how things were going to change for him. Wallace helped him to remove his outfit, just as they had helped put it on. And yet, this time there was something different about Wallace seeing him in nothing but underwear. He needed to stop thinking like that immediately. Would Wallace be looking at him differently now they were officially dating? What kind of things were they expecting from this relationship?

"Wallace, is this weird for you now?" He had purposely left off his shirt while asking the question.

"Is what weird?" Wallace asked as they continued to place the outfit back onto the dress form. They turned to look at Steven, giving him a quizzical look.

"Is me walking around like this weird?"

"Not particularly," Wallace said. "I mean, when I choose to walk round the house half naked I would much rather ditch the trousers, perhaps a skirt or loose shorts. Then again, I was always under the impression your chest got cold rather easily considering you wear a shirt, waistcoat and jacket."

Steven laughed at himself. Of course nothing had really changed. There wasn't a switch that suddenly flicked on or something.

"So are you staying over in all your shirtless glory?"

"I…that would be nice." It would be much better to spend time with Wallace now so he could figure out if he really did want this.

"I won't force you to sleep in my bed, just so you know."

"Well I guess I should find out now whether I can stand sharing a bed with you." He stuck his tongue out.

"We've fallen asleep enough times watching films, I'm sure you know I'm very good at sharing and not snoring."


	6. To Kalos

Steven didn't know why he had ever doubted Wallace. The other made him feel so at ease, never pushing him to do anything more than what he was comfortable with. To him Wallace was an angel sent by Jirachi.

Everything was a slow ride. They still had their own lives to lead and some days one of them would come home exhausted, not up for devoting time to the other. It was a relief to both that they didn't need constant interaction to upkeep their relationship.

"So, you and Wallace?" Maria said casually.

"What about us?" Steven asked, busy typing a letter to the Pokétch Company.

"You're together I hear."

Steven stopped typing. "Where did you hear that?" They were only several weeks into their relationship and so far had decided to keep it under wraps. He certainly hadn't told anyone.

"It's on Pika."

"WHAT?!" If Maria had been lying to him, the cat was certainly out of the bag by that reaction. "Excuse me." Wallace was on speed dial. "Wallace, _dearest,_ did you put a post about us on Pika? …Okay. I will delve deeper." He turned back to Maria. "Ahem, apologies. Do tell who posted such a thing."

Maria smirked. "A fan who lives in Sootopolis says she spotted you kissing on Wallace's doorstep. There's even a blurry photo, but it's definitely you two."

"Show me." He got up to look rather than trying to find it himself. "Oh Arceus. Maybe…you should say it's a hoax and people dressed up as us."

"People are going to find out," Maria noted. "The next time you visit each other cameras are going to be at the ready. But until then you do have a few fans that have taken your asexuality posts on board and claim you can't be in a relationship."

"They'll be the ones that don't understand the difference between romantic and sexual attraction."

"So, what do you want to do about this?"

"No comment until I speak to Wallace. Although I'm sure they won't mind going public."

By the end of the day Wallace had composed a short message, complete with a selfie of them both.

 **OooO**

"Happy birthday!" Maria said when he arrived in the office.

"It's not my birthday until tomorrow," he pointed out. His father always made sure he had the day off.

"Yes, but your fans have been sending you gifts for the past month and I figured it would be nice to post about the good ones online. I'll take photos today and post them throughout tomorrow."

"Sounds good. There's quite a few…"

Within the packages he found many chocolates, no doubt people had remembered he liked them from some of the questions he'd answered all those months ago. Some people had sent him shards of rock, broken fossils and even an evolution stone.

"Everything's looking quite normal," Steven said. "I was expecting more…questionable gifts." He started to unwrap the next box. "I have spoken too soon." It was only chocolate, but in the shapes of breasts and penises.

A few plush Pokémon and a dick-shaped lollipop later, he had finished unwrapping everything.

"Please can we post a photo?" Maria asked about the lollipop.

"Maria, no. I will eat that with the curtains drawn in the dead of night."

She smirked. "Some would take that the wrong way."

"I feel bad just throwing it away, but I do mean I will eat it as I would any other sweet."

Wallace arrived that evening, planning on spending all of Steven's birthday with him.

"What's all this?" Wallace asked as they surveyed the gifts Steven had brought back to Mossdeep.

"Well, Wallace, you might not know, but it's my birthday tomorrow."

They laughed. "I didn't know your fans were this generous. Quite…interesting gifts."

"You can have that," he said when he saw what Wallace was holding.

"But it's your present."

Steven gestured to the pile of boxes on the counter. "I have more than enough to be getting on with. And a lollipop of that size won't be finished."

"Well, I might as well get started." They found there really wasn't a way to eat it without it looking suggestive. Luckily Steven was quite busy trying to shove boxes into cupboards. They found it odd how he would happily leave rocks lying around, but other mess wasn't allowed. Perhaps it was so he always had room for more rocks.

"Wallace…"

They hummed as they sucked the tip of the sugar dick.

"Actually, we should talk about…that."

"Talk about what?" They asked as the licked from the base to the tip.

"About sex."

"Oh? I thought that wasn't something you wanted in this relationship."

"I, um, no, not really. I mean, maybe I'd like to try it eventually. I just wanted to know how you felt about this arrangement."

"Obviously if it bothered me so I wouldn't have entered into this relationship," Wallace said. "I knew what I was getting into." Steven smiled. "So, how would you like to make use of our time together this evening?"

From the cupboard Steven pulled out a variety of ingredients. "It's time to make my birthday cake!"

"I didn't know you could bake."

"I've made all my birthday cakes since Father and I stopped living together. He gave me Mother's recipe. And this year I see you've volunteered to help."

"Oh, I did?"

"Yep, so no more sucking that dick. It's time to work."

Wallace could tell Steven regretted letting them have the lollipop. They got to work measuring out ingredients which Steven started to mix. It was a different way to spend their evening, and much better than the usual film. The fun part was decorating it. Wallace insisted that Steven amuse himself while they did the decoration, a surprise for Steven tomorrow.

Before long they were snuggled up in bed, Steven yawning away as he tried to stay awake watching a show about contests.

He woke in the morning to find Wallace had already been out to get fresh pastries for breakfast. His first choice was the pain au chocolat.

"Happy birthday, my love." Wallace kissed him after setting down some tea. "I've got you a little something."

Steven had not been oblivious to the larger than expected box on the table. "Can I open it?"

Wallace nodded and watched eagerly as Steven opened the card on top first – quite a soppy card in their opinion – before moving onto the main event.

"Oh, wow, Wallace, this is…" He pulled a purple garment out of the box. "This is why you took so many measurements." Wallace had crafted him a suit with a main colour of purple matched with a little black, the opposite to his usual attire. "This is great. I'll wear it today!"

"Did you have plans then?"

Steven hardly ever had plans during the day on his birthday, but dinner out was always on the cards. "I want to go somewhere posh and romantic for dinner."

"Don't you always dine at places like that?"

"Noooo, I mean, maybe to a lot of people it would seem like that… But this time I would be going with someone I –" He realised in that moment he had not yet said the 'L word' to describe how he felt about Wallace. "With someone I love."

Wallace clapped their hands together. "Steven, you're so sweet."

Steven hid his face in his new suit jacket. "It's so embarrassing saying it like that."

Wallace jumped up and removed the jacket from Steven, draping it over a chair. "I love you too." They snaked an arm around Steven's waist to pull him in closer so they were in optimal kissing distance. Wallace placed a hand on Steven's neck as they closed the gap for a long, slow kiss. Steven melted into the embrace, enjoying the feel of Wallace holding him.

"Say it again," Wallace whispered.

Steven's heart started to beat faster. There was something different about Wallace's tone, something a bit needier, a side Wallace didn't show to most. He liked that he had the privilege to see Wallace like this.

"I love you, Wallace." How much power could this phrase hold?

Wallace bit their lip as they gazed at Steven. They moved in for another kiss and began to pull them both towards the sofa.

"Wallace." Steven stopped them from going any further. As fun as this was, he felt that now was a good time to stop. "I… I liked that and we should do it again some time."

"I'm sorry, I got a bit carried away there."

Steven waved it off. It had been an interesting experience and he was quite ready for a nice cool shower.

They didn't go far from home that evening, Steven choosing a restaurant just across the sea in Lilycove. Wallace has chosen an outfit to complement Steven's, making sure they looked good at this 'posh' restaurant of choice. Of course, there were also a few fans around Lilycove who they happily posed for. They skipped dessert in order to have the cake they'd baked the previous night, Steven finally getting to see what Wallace had decorated it with. A beldum was enclosed within the words 'happy birthday.' He almost didn't want to eat it and destroy such a lovely cake.

 **OooO**

Meeting up had become a regular thing on a Friday evening. This week it was Steven's turn to go to Wallace. As usual he was early and turned up to the gym to see what Wallace was doing. Today they were sat at a table by the waterfall at the back of the gym, a dark blue-haired, shirtless man sat across from them.

Steven attempted to quietly approach them, but Wallace spotted him a mile off.

"Steven! Come and introduce yourself."

He hurried forward, but Wallace was already taking care of the introductions. Wallace was talking in what sounded like Unovan. He knew Wallace could speak Kalosian, many thanks to Juan, but this was new information – were there any limits to their talent?

"Steven, this is Marlon. He's a water gym leader from Unova. Funnily enough he's also considered to be the final leader due to his proximity to the Unovan League."

"You are the famous Steven Stone!" Marlon piped up in a language he was more familiar with. "I see you in the photos – the big photos in Rustboro."

"Oh? Are you travelling around Hoenn then?" he asked.

"I have been to most of the places now. Tomorrow I will go to Ever Grande and then to Pacifidlog town."

"Well, I hope you've enjoyed your stay."

"It has been very good. I can see why you like the places with the rocks here. Meteor falls was very beautiful. I do not think Unova has such interesting places for rocks. Have you been to Unova?"

"I have not yet. Devon has been keeping business within the local regions of Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh."

"Oh? So you have not been to Kalos?"

"Not yet, although I expect Wallace to take me one day. And be my translator." He smiled at his partner.

"I suppose we should," Wallace said. "It is a rather romantic place at times."

"Kalos is very beautiful," Marlon agreed. "But for you, there is a – oh, that is the word – a cave! There is a cave called the Glittering Cave. It is full of rocks, very shiny and beautiful rocks. They are on the walls and the top, above you." Marlon started to motion, failing to find the words he was looking for. "You must go there. I promise you will like it very much."

Wallace said something in Unovan and Marlon laughed. Steven took it as his opportunity to pull up a few photos of this cave on his Nav. Marlon was right – he needed to go here and he needed to go soon. Now. Now was good, right?

"Wallaaace." Steven put an arm around them and put the screen in view. "How do you fancy a weekend away?"

"Ah! Yes, that is it!" Marlon said as he leaned over the table to see the colourful images.

"What? This weekend?"

"Sure. Let's go."

Wallace hummed. "You're paying for everything."

And so it was that instead of the usual night indoors, the pair found themselves on a plane heading to Kalos. Wallace almost regretted agreeing to such a long journey, with Kalos being several time zones over. Maybe they should have saved such a trip for a time when they could spend a week there, but Steven didn't want to wait to see this cave.

In true Stone family fashion they checked themselves into the most expensive looking hotel in Lumoise city, in the penthouse apartment no less.

"Steven, you are literally going to spend all day in a cave," Wallace said when they saw the place. "Why would you pay so much to stay here?"

"Honestly, I just called up the first few numbers on the list and took whatever was offered. I know I can afford it, so it's no big deal. Besides, with a place like this I can leave you in comfort if you don't want to come with me."

"Of course I want to come."

Steven beamed. "Aw, thank you! I even brought some spare clothes in case, but we can buy you new gear if it doesn't fit."

Steven, being a champion, was technically permitted to fly over any region he pleased, but he decided it would be more interesting to do the journey on foot.

They started on gogoats, riding around Lumoise, from their hotel to the appropriate route. Roller skating was a big thing in Kalos, but Steven decided he'd rather use a trusty old bike. Onwards they rode, past a town with a haunted house and through to a cave filled with zubats. Steven wanted to pause, but he knew better things were waiting. They came out of the cave and were on a cliff overlooking another town. It was an amazing view, but also absolutely terrifying. They agreed walking was a much better idea. Both were relieved when they came across the mountain path. Soon they came to odd sandy area, a lone person sat on a rock just before it.

Steven was about to walk down the steps to the sand when the person reached out and grabbed him, yelling something. He stared back, bewildered by the sudden outburst.

Wallace said sorry, a word he could recognise. "They said you're crazy and ask if you want to get stuck." Wallace explained that they were tourists, wanting to get to the cave. "We have to wait for a rhyhorn to carry us across."

Sure enough, as Wallace continued to speak with the person, a rhyhorn came along, carrying another passenger. The person in question seemed to have rocks in their hair and a carabiner around their neck. They hopped off and the person Wallace had been talking to got on.

"Steven Stone!" the new person said. They said something else, but then noticed the confusion on Steven's face. "Sorry, I Hoenn language not very good. I am Grant. I you rock buy."

Wallace could see Grant struggling to chain sentences together, so they stepped in, translating all of the praises Grant wished to convey.

"Anistar city – you go?" Grant asked.

"No, what is there?" Steven tried to keep his question simple.

"Big rock." Wallace supplied more, describing a massive crystal formation.

"I will go," Steven assured him.

Grant shook his hand, adding a nice to meet you, as the rhyhorn had returned and Grant was equally excited for Steven to get to the Glittering Cave.

When they set foot in the cave Steven became speechless, just standing there while he took it all in.

"This is the most incredible thing I've seen and I'm insanely jealous that we don't have something like this in Hoenn."

He couldn't help but touch the protruding rocks as they walked through the cave. It was a very simple cave, with an almost linear path. As they walked, Steven picked up small shards from the ground.

"Aren't you going to try and take one of these home with you?" Wallace motioned to a crystal the size of their forearm.

"I can't just destroy the cave like that!" Steven was horrified at the suggestion. "If everyone did that these beautiful crystals would all be gone."

They continued going until they reached a more spacious room. Here there were lots of fossil shards, no doubt created by rock smashing just a little too hard.

"I wonder what this is a fossil of," Steven pondered. "I've never seen this before."

Once Steven was satisfied he had seen enough of the cave they began to leave. On the way back Steven took photos of his favourite rocks that he couldn't have.

By the time they were back in Lumoise it was getting late and the pair were exhausted from travelling. Yet it did not end there. The next day they travelled east to Anistar city, this time finding themselves riding a mamoswine to get there.

Steven decided he needed to send Grant a thank you of some kind for directing him to this masterpiece. The crystal formation was used as a sundial and according to the information plaque it shone beautifully when the sun hit it in the evening. Consequently Steven insisted they stay in the city until that time.

The city was rather small and sitting in the café could only last so long. Steven was more than happy to sit by the crystal all day, watching as it changed when clouds passed overhead. Wallace disappeared off to the boutique and returned several hours later with a gym badge in hand.

"That's some boutique you went to," Steven said as he looked over the badge.

"I met Olympia, the city's leader, while I was in there. She is an incredibly fashionable lady. Sadly she likes to keep that side to herself. I did offer to collaborate on some designs, but she claims to see the future and says that nothing will come of it. Perhaps the world is not ready for what we could create."

"So did she also see that you are a great trainer and just handed you the badge?"

Wallace laughed. "Even if she did she still made me battle her. I doubt she would use her sight for such a purpose – otherwise why would she even have a gym?"

"I guess she could just set up a stall and hand them out."

"It would probably be against League regulations," Wallace said. "If Tate and Liza started predicting things they'd probably be told they had to battle every challenger."

"They're too cute. I don't know how anyone can battle them." The twins had only been leaders for a few months and Steven was glad he had battled their parents for his badge.

"Steven, look!"

The rings on the sundial began to spin as light shone through the hole in the centre. Steven gazed in awe and suddenly remembered he should immortalise this moment in a photo.

"Wallace, come here."

They stood and posed for the selfie before berating Steven's composition. "You should never have your light source behind you. We're basically silhouettes in this and you can barely see the crystal."

Steven turned and took another one, this time planting a kiss on Wallace's cheek as he did so. "Better?"

"Not my best angle, but it will do."

Steven tried his best to keep Wallace amused as they were staying for the whole hour that the crystal shined. Steven's excuse was he might as well do it while he was here.

Wallace stood by the window of the apartment, looking down at the bright streets of Lumoise.

"Is it as romantic as you remember?" Steven asked, hugging them from behind, his skin still damp from the shower.

"It is, but with all our rushing around I haven't had time to bask in it."

"All the more reason for another trip."

Wallace turned to face him. "I look forward to it. But thank you for this one." They captured Steven's lips in a kiss. As Steven was being quite receptive they took it as a chance to see how far they could go. They didn't want him to be uncomfortable, but they wanted to have a little fun now and then.

Wallace began to use one hand to roam across Steven's chest. This was their first shirtless make-out session and Wallace was finding it quite difficult not getting carried away with feeling how strong some of Steven's muscles were. While feeling up his pecs Wallace took the opportunity to brush a nipple, enjoying how easily it began to react.

Steven gently took hold of Wallace's hand, guiding them back down to his waist. "Wallace, I…"

"I know, you don't like it, that's okay."

"No, I do… It feels nice, but I don't want to, um, go in the direction you were heading."

Wallace brushed his cheek. "Alright, but can you do me a favour?" Steven nodded. "Flex for me."

Steven pulled an arm up and flexed his bicep. "Like this?"

Wallace gently prodded the muscle and ran their hand over the skin. "Amazing. I knew you had substance, but I realised I'd never actually had a good feel."

"I just try and stay in shape for all the caving I do. It's nothing special."

Wallace was biting their lip again. Steven wasn't sure if they did that intentionally or subconsciously, but he now knew it as 'turned on Wallace' and decided to change the subject.

"Well, it's been a long day, shall we try and rest before our flight tomorrow?"


	7. The Sinnoh Adventure

Granite Cave was the talk of the town among historians and cave-fanatics such as Steven Stone. Someone had broken through a wall and found a huge mural depicting ancient Pokémon. Of course, all work for the day was pushed aside and Steven was heading to Dewford immediately.

Unfortunately the job wasn't finished, but he offered to help out, slowly uncovering the image in its entirety. He went back every day for a week after the job was done, looking for more meaning and admiring the skill of the artist, or even artists.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for someone called Steven Stone."

Steven turned to see a young person, barely a teenager. "That would be me."

"Oh good." They began to rummage in their bag. "I have this for you." He was handed a letter, his father's handwriting easily recognisable.

"Thank you. Who are you? Do you work for Devon?" He had no idea why his father was sending him mail via a young person who looked like they were probably just starting out on their Pokémon adventure.

They shook their head. "I'm May. I helped to beat up some bad guys and your dad gave me that letter – and this!" They showed off the most recent PokéNav model.

"That's impressive."

"I remember you now – you're on billboards in Rustboro! And you were on the TV a little while ago."

Steven smiled. "I'm also Champion."

May cocked their head to the side. "I imagined the champion to be…old. Oh well, I'm going to beat you anyway."

They scampered away and Steven opened the letter. It was nothing important and just read, _Please entertain this wonderful, sweet girl._ Mission fulfilled, he supposed.

The interesting encounters didn't end there. When he stepped onto the sand outside the cave he found a peculiar item, recently washed ashore. He picked it up and found it to be some kind of flute. Without hesitation he gave it a wash in the sea and attempted to play it. It sounded beautiful and somehow he managed to play something correctly because less than a minute later a Pokémon appeared before him.

The yellow-eyed Pokémon looked at him expectantly. When he did nothing but stare back it began to chirp.

"Did you come because of this?" He held up the flute. The Pokémon chirped in agreement. "I've never seen anything like you before."

The Pokémon hovered closer and nudged Steven. He took it as a sign to get on, carefully avoiding its red wings. The Pokémon took off like a jet, flying higher than Steven would usually dare. From here he could see so much more of Hoenn.

"This is amazing!" Steven wondered if perhaps he could tempt Skarmory to take him up this high. The Pokémon began to fly towards Mt. Chimney. "Actually, I was about to head home when I accidentally summoned you."

Thoughts flashed through his mind and somehow he knew this Pokémon was called Latias and she was female. Latias also gained things from him as she was now headed to Mossdeep. It took hardly any time at all to get there and Latias dropped him right in front of the door.

"That was an incredible experience," Steven said, running a hand through his windswept hair. "I hope we can do it again sometime."

Latias chirped and pressed her face in close to his. Now he knew the notes to play to call on her, and also that something was going to happen a few months from now. Something that Latias wanted him to help with.

She chirped once more and disappeared within seconds. Once he was inside the first thing he did was search for any information on such a Pokémon.

 **OooO**

"It was a legendary, Wallace!" Steven was recounting the tale of how he had met Latias.

"So, can you show me?"

Steven took out the flute and played a few notes. "Any moment now."

Wallace surveyed the sky expectantly. "Are you sure? Are you playing it right?"

"Yeah, we had a kind of psychic link and she told me exactly how to play it."

"And this isn't some elaborate dream you had last night?"

Steven frowned. "I don't know why she's not coming. Maybe she's asleep."

"Oh well, perhaps you can show me another time," Wallace said. "I, on the other hand, have a call to answer. I'm off to Sinnoh for a few weeks. They want me to be a contest judge."

"That's great! Wait – are you going alone?"

Wallace smirked. "Are you asking whether you're invited? Feel free to come along."

Steven clapped in excitement. "Did you know Mt. Coronet is the biggest mountain on the continent? It divides Sinnoh in half and extends so far north that one end in covered in snow."

"Well, we're headed to Hearthome City which isn't far at all, lucky you."

As much as Steven believed he was more than capable of spending 2 whole weeks in one mountain, he decided the trip to Sinnoh was going to be more fruitful than that.

While Wallace sat around judging Sinnoh's best, he would be travelling around the region. He started by stealing Fantina from Wallace on their first afternoon. Although Steven was an explorer by nature he wanted to spend as much time exploring a certain place and so a quick tour of the skies with Fantina on her drifblim was appreciated greatly. He had business with the Pokétch Company in Jubilife and a few other places he would like to visit, time permitting.

Without wasting any more time he bid Wallace and Fantina goodbye and set his sights on Mt. Coronet.

 **OooO**

"You did _what?_ " Wallace asked.

This was the fourth day of their Sinnoh trip and Wallace honestly didn't know what to say. They hadn't had time to recount their individual adventures as both were out all day and one was always busy in the evening.

"I bought a villa," Steven said as though it was something one did on a regular basis.

Wallace continued to stare at their boyfriend, mouth slightly ajar. "Steven, I know you don't exactly have shortage of cash, but surely…is this what you've been doing the past three days?"

"Oh, no," Steven began. "On the first full day I went into Mt. Coronet, as you know, where I found a guy called Roark – he's a freshly minted gym leader. Oh – and I got to meet his father too – he runs a steel gym! Anyway, then yesterday I was in Jubilife all day doing business stuff and that's where I overheard someone was selling their villa. So today I went over there to check it out and was like sure, I'll take it!"

Wallace blinked. "I honestly don't know what to say. I cannot believe I know someone, let alone am dating said someone, who sees a villa and buys it on the day."

Steven shrugged. "They really wanted to get rid of it, so I was a big help. Father was supportive of the decision, he says we're going to be doing a lot more business over here soon, so it'll come in handy."

"At least you asked someone."

"I thought we could visit on the last day, after the contest is wrapped up. How is it going?"

Wallace's face lit up. "Everyone is amazing! I feel so blessed to have been asked to come to such a prestigious event. It's interesting to see more Sinnoh Pokémon being used – oh, and how the trainers use some of their unique moves. I want to judge more contests around the world."

Steven loved watching Wallace go off into their own world and talk at length about things that interested and inspired them. He didn't get to see it that often, at least not in this capacity.

 **OooO**

"Mmm… Steven, you're back later than me – that's very naughty." Wallace seemed to have just collapsed on the bed still fully clothed.

"Did I wake you? I'm sorry." Steven dropped a sack of what sounded like rocks by the door and then there was the thud of his rucksack, filled with tools.

"I wondered where you were when I got back. I wanted the bed to be nice and warm. Come here." Wallace raised their arms pathetically before dropping them again.

"Wallace, are you okay? I didn't mean to be long, but Roark decided to only tell me today, on our last day, that there's a whole underground network of tunnels linking most of Sinnoh!"

"Ah yes, the rocks. I can never beat them. What would it be called? Rock-romantic? Rock-sexual?"

Steven walked over the where Wallace was lying, perching on the end of the bed. "Wallace, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." They turned their head towards the window, not that it mattered much; Steven had noticed Wallace had their eyes closed the whole time.

He leant over and planted a kiss on Wallace's cheek. He noticed the scent of alcohol which put his mind at ease a little; Wallace was probably just being a little dramatic. They hardly ever imbibed, only on occasions, so the smallest glass was bound to affect them.

"I think you should stop creasing your beautiful clothes and then we should get some sleep." He picked up Wallace's hat and set it down on the bedside table. "Come on, Wallace, I'll be back in a few minutes."

In the time it took him to wash his face and get ready for bed, Wallace had only managed to slide off the bed and onto the floor, although they were technically now sitting – an improvement he supposed.

"Wallace, help me out here." He held out his hands, which Wallace took and managed to stand upright. They weren't too wobbly, but this late at night he also would have chosen the wall for support. "Have you had some water?"

Wallace shook their head. Steven instructed him to undress while he fetched a glass, but Wallace seemed quite surprised by their own handiwork.

"Steven, I don't understand, why doesn't it come off?"

Well, at least they had tried. This outfit was new as far as Steven was aware and in the style of a jumpsuit too. Clearly Wallace had engineered it so the top and bottom halves could be separated, but they couldn't seem to figure out how. Steven sighed and slid the collar down their shoulders, the fabric stretched enough to allow it.

"Are you undressing me, Mr. Stone?" Wallace wrapped their arms around Steven's neck.

"Wallace, it's so much later than I expected, let's just get some sleep, but drink your water first."

They huffed and did as they were told.

Steven spooned Wallace when they finally joined him under the covers. "I love you, and we get to spend all day tomorrow together. Sleep well."

"Good morning, sunshine."

Wallace hissed at the now open curtains. "Why, Steven?"

"Technically we have to be out of the room in an hour, so I figured I'd wake you now."

They threw the covers over their head.

"I hope you're not going back to sleep."

"No," came the muffled reply.

Steven was not impressed ten minutes later when he could hear the other snoring softly. This time he took the covers away.

"Nooo," Wallace whined. "Why is it so cold?"

"Maybe you should get dressed to warm up," Steven suggested.

"Why am I naked? Steven, what happened last night?" The confusion on Wallace's face was hard not to laugh at.

"Don't you remember?" Steven smirked, ready to take the opportunity presented to him. "So, you got home before me…"

"I remember that."

Oh, shit, perhaps he wouldn't be able to get away with his story, time to tweak it. "And you called me rock-sexual." Ah, the sweet smell of truth before the lie.

"I did? I'm so sorry."

"And rock-romantic – you couldn't decide. Anyway." Ah yes, that moment in the story where, had he planned it, he could have given it so much more credibility. "You decided to look up rock porn." Actually, he had no idea where he was going with this because it sounded so fake to him, and Wallace wasn't drunk anymore and wouldn't believe the bullshit he was trying to make up. "We ended up watching some weird shit."

Despite how it was looking in his mind, Wallace seemed to believe him – so far.

"Said weird shit was actually pretty hot, so we… I undressed you." He mixing of lie and truth was the best. "And you were very seductive, calling me 'Mr. Stone.'"

At this point Wallace was staring, eyebrows raised.

"And then we recreated a little of the weird rock porn." Hmm, was that too far? Maybe he should have cut it short and said Wallace fell asleep?

"Is that what happened?" Wallace asked, suspicion in their voice.

"Yep."

"Then pray tell, what exactly did 'recreating the rock porn' entail?"

If only he had a freshly washed rock to back up the story. "Like most porn it had people sucking each other off, so we went along with that." Arceus, he didn't sound at all convincing.

"You're not a very good liar, Mr. Stone," Wallace said, finally getting up. They walked towards him, took his hand and pulled him to the bed. Wallace pushed him down and sat on him.

"Wallace, this is going to crease my suit," Steven complained.

"I will iron it again. Now, let's see if you were telling the truth." Wallace began to unbutton and unzip Steven's trousers, watching and waiting for Steven to give up. Steven stared back, wondering how far Wallace would go… Well, he guessed all the way. Wallace wouldn't leave him hanging if they started, right?

Steven took Wallace's hands. "Wallace, we've wasted enough time already, we should really think about leaving."

"Don't think you're getting out of this so easily. Of course, you can just admit that you're lying. Perhaps you undressed me just for this story? Or maybe I undressed myself? Come to think of it, I remember being told to do things last night, I remember you being a little…controlling."

Steven narrowed his eyes. Was Wallace playing him? Did they remember everything? "Believe what you will, but I undressed you after briefly trying to figure out how your clothes work. Anyway, enough lying around, time is ticking."

It was a miracle from Dialga that they left on time, using Steven's Skarmory to get to the villa. Wallace was blown away by the villa – its location, the size and, most importantly, the pool. If only it wasn't so cold, they would have dived right in. The inside was not as impressive as the outside. Steven had had some basic furniture moved in since he bought the place, but otherwise it was very bare. His home in Mossdeep was much the same, so they didn't know what else Steven was planning to put in there.

"I want to get a grand piano, display some rocks and get a nice rug for in front of the fireplace."

"Oh, just a grand piano? I didn't even know you could play."

"Father made me take lessons until I went off on my adventure. I had a knack for it."

Wallace walked further into the villa, checking out the other rooms. "Steven, did you buy the bed?" The four-poster in the bedroom was luxurious, made of thick mahogany beams with heavy velvet drapes. It was rather out of place compared to the other furniture.

"No, that came with the villa. I doubt it was worth dismantling and trying to move it elsewhere. I quite like it."

Wallace laughed. "It definitely suits a rich boy like yourself. And a perfect place for you to show me, in detail, what happened in that rock porn."

The perfect opportunity to give up, but the game had to continue. As long as he thought Wallace had some belief in the story he'd created, he would carry on. They were in no rush though, willing to spend the day exploring the island known as the Battle Zone. Many trainers came to the island looking for a fight, and they entertained a few of them along the way. It was odd to go around battling such powerful trainers that didn't bat an eyelid at them. Only one person recognised Steven as Hoenn champion, the rest seemed to be living in their own world on the island, intent on beating the heads of the Battle Frontier's facilities.

Their last day in Sinnoh was quickly coming to an end, but it wasn't over yet.

Wallace was lying on top of silk sheets, no nightwear (or daywear) in sight. "So, I still haven't solved the mystery of last night. Care to join me?"

Steven had been quite ready to get some shut eye, hoping they had forgotten about this, but he guessed he had to see the game 'til the end.

"So many clothes, surely you weren't wearing these last night?" Wallace pushed up the top Steven was wearing and hooked a finger around the elastic of his trousers.

"Well, some of us get a little chilly."

Wallace chuckled. "I wonder what it takes to make you hot."

Steven had to give them that one, it was an excellent line. Still, he was debating how much further he was going to let this go. Wallace knew how to play this game. They started with kisses – lips, jaw, neck. They touched his chest, sliding down the outside of his hips and thighs – places they knew Steven wouldn't mind so much. Soon, Steven was going to give up, but they wanted to try and get a rise out of him before then.

Slowly they trailed a hand up Steven's inner thigh, chancing the central path, feeling what lie beneath those boxers. Their hand continued until it came to rest on Steven's chest.

"Is this exciting?" Wallace asked. "Your heart says you're feeling something."

Steven swallowed. "Wallace…"

They hummed as they began to slide their hand down again, stopping at the final waistband, toying with it while they waited for permission.

He sighed. As much as he didn't want to admit defeat, this was it. "There was no rock porn, I lied."

Wallace punched a fist in the air. "I am so glad. I mean, I guessed that was the case, but you told some truths, it made it quite difficult."

"I was quite proud of my attempt. Probably shouldn't have gone with 'rock porn' to be honest."

"I think most things you could come up with are better. But this was fun, I enjoyed playing this little game. If you work on your bullshitting we can play again some time."

Steven recounted the story of what actually happened, just for the record.

"Much less interesting than your version, but I'm glad I didn't forget our first time – if we have one."

"About that…" Decision time was upon him, he'd been thinking about this all day. "I think I'm ready to give something a go."

"Steven, if you wanted to try something you didn't have to make up such a ridiculous story."

"Oh no, the story was just some fun, but it is what made me consider asking tonight," Steven said. "I was going to mention it soon though. I've been kind of gearing myself up for this."

Wallace admitted they were surprised. "So, did you have plans?"

"First off, no penetration. I don't want anything in my ass, nor do I want to put anything in yours."

"That would have been a bit hardcore for your first time in my opinion."

"I just don't like the idea of ever doing something like that. So I was going to suggest we just have our usual make-out session, but go that bit further. I know you're always wanting to."

Wallace was going to deny that point, but they really couldn't. "So, to clarify, before I continue where we left off, you want us to get off without the use of asses?"

"Yes." He was so embarrassed already he wanted to hide his face in a pillow. "Go slowly. I'm worried it'll be over too quickly for you."

Wallace stroked his cheek. "Don't worry about things like that. But we'll go slow and you have to tell me if you want to stop at any time."

Steven nodded. How did he end up with Wallace who was too good for this world?

They began to kiss him again, hands carefully brushing against his skin. Steven realised that he had signed himself up for giving Wallace equal treatment. Usually Steven kept his hands above waist height, sometimes around Wallace's neck. He trailed his hands down Wallace's body and was reminded that Wallace was already naked. Oh how he wished that wasn't the case. A fabric barrier would have been a nice starting point, but here he was.

Wallace began to gently caress him through his boxers and much to his embarrassment he let out a pleased sound. Hoping to make Wallace do the same, he reached down to grab hold of Wallace, finding they were already half hard. He gave them a little stroke, but didn't elicit the same reaction, more of a surprised 'oh' that Steven had made a move.

"I'm good to take these off, right?"

"Of course." Steven lifted his hips to make it easier to slide his underwear off. "You didn't have to ask."

"It's better to check." Wallace began to stroke him properly, slowly from the base to the tip.

"I came in my underwear once. It was gross and I don't plan on doing it again."

Wallace raised their eyebrows. "Really? That doesn't seem like something that would just happen to you."

Steven wondered how many shades of red his face could possibly produce. "This was some years ago, I was experimenting – alone."

"So, are you a bit kinky when left to your own devices?" Wallace asked. "Should I be expecting to find a sex toy stash in your house?" They took hold of his hand, reminding him that they were in fact in the middle of something.

"I own three toys, not much of a collection."

"Three more than I thought you did. I didn't think you cared enough to own any." Wallace began to rub a nipple.

"I got them during my experimental phase, but I still whip them out occasionally. A little treat if you will." Usually Steven wouldn't say half of these things, but with Wallace's member in his hand it didn't feel so odd.

"So, tell me, Steven, what do you think about when you use these toys?" They weren't going to waste this opportunity.

"Random things," Steven said. "Sometimes it's porn."

"My sweet, innocent Steven has watched porn?" Wallace said dramatically.

"Just like the little gifs people post online. I tried watching an actual video and it was honestly the most embarrassed I'd ever felt."

Wallace kissed his cheek. "That's actually adorable. Do you ever think about me, or real people?"

Steven removed Wallace's hand from his member. "I thought about us a few times recently. I wanted to picture how this was going to go." Wallace looked at him expectantly. "Well, in the fantasy I tried to time imaginary me coming with real me, but that didn't work out. So I proceeded along with imaginary you coming and I was sucking your dick, so maybe we could go with that?"

Wallace had never even considered such a thing would happen, but they weren't going to say no. Steven began to move down the bed, but Wallace stopped him.

"I've got a better idea." They pulled Steven on top of them, so they were in a good 69 position. "How do you like this?"

"I feel really awkward. And I…I wanted to see your face." As embarrassing as his confession was, he was now turned on enough that he was past caring.

After a quick reposition it was time to give Wallace an experimental lick. This wasn't as disgusting as he'd imagined it, but he often found the horny factor changed his perception. The next challenge was how much he could fit in his mouth. That wasn't so fun, he quite enjoyed breathing after all. He settled for swirling his tongue around the tip while occasionally grinding his hips into the mattress, still waiting for his own release.

"Steven…" Wallace was beginning to moan more frequently now.

He decided it was time to get his hands involved again, working the base of the shaft while he continued to suck the tip. There was something really pleasurable about this moment. For some reason he really wanted to make Wallace come, for them to feel that relaxation that came with release. It was a confusing moment for him; he was still pretty sure he wasn't sexually attracted to Wallace and yet here he was wanting to do sexual things to Wallace.

"Steven, I'm gonna come," Wallace said, breaking Steven's internal debate.

He hadn't really considered what he was going to do when the moment came. He ended up choking on cum, completely ruining the moment. Wallace wiped his chin clean, a smile on their face. Yes, that's what it was – love. He loved Wallace so much he wanted to see this moment over and over. He leaned in and kissed Wallace.

Wallace took a more romantic approach to going down on Steven. They kissed his body all the way down. They were slow and surrounded him with a masterful tongue. Wallace had clearly had some practise compared to his rather terrible attempt. At least he had gone first so he didn't feel he had to measure up to this.

Arceus, he wasn't going to last long. But as he neared the edge he realised that he was completely at ease right now. He had never considered himself to be entirely sex repulsed (uncomfortable was a better fit) but the idea of letting someone see him like this and touch him so intimately was the scary part. Somehow Wallace didn't make him feel like that and it was very refreshing. He was so comfortable he even voiced his pleasure.

"Wallace, I'm so close."

They went faster before stopping to open their mouth, still pumping with their hand, waiting for Steven to release.

"Fuck," Steven panted as he watched his load paint Wallace's tongue white. "That's kind of hot in real life."

Wallace swallowed and continued to gently suck his member until he was completely spent.

They laid back beside Steven, and he turned to rest his head on their chest.

"How was that for you?"

"At first I was really embarrassed," Steven admitted. "But then we started talking and it wasn't so bad. And then, when we weren't talking, I was thinking about it and I just really, really love you, Wallace."

"I love you too." They gently brushed their fingers through his hair.

"If it wasn't too disappointing for you," Steven said sarcastically, "I would be up for doing this again, but I'm more of a once-a-week kind of guy. I hear some couples do this every day."

Wallace laughed. "Yeah, I don't know, not sure I would do this again," they mirrored his tone. "I mean, it was alright, not at all hot to watch you suck me off, definitely wouldn't look forward to that again – I mean, your technique is amateur."

"Hey!" Steven gave them a light smack.

"I'm not complaining, it wouldn't have been as cute if you'd turned out to be an expert dick-sucker."

"So I'm cute to you?" Steven mused.

"You're a great many things to me, but tonight I saw cute little Stevie. One day I hope to see that sexy man that comes out during your photoshoots."

" _Stevie?"_ Steven scoffed. He got up and leant back on the bed, one hand supporting him, the other holding up the shirt he was still wearing. "Is this what you want to see?"

Wallace hummed. "Much better, but –" They ran a hand across his lightly defined abs. "Even now I can see that uncertainty in your face. You're not completely confident."

"I'll work on it, just for you." He kissed Wallace before dropping the pose.


	8. Our Base

"So, what do you think of Team Aqua and Magma?" Maria asked.

Steven had returned to Hoenn to find that there were a few gangs causing a bit of a ruckus around the region. "Personally, I would side with Magma. More land means more caves, right? But honestly they're both nuts. The world is fine as it is."

"Do you think they will be more trouble?"

"Eh, what more can they do?"

Steven found out that they were actually quite a lot more organised than he had thought. As foretold, Latias appeared to him several months after their first meeting. She flew him to a route he hadn't considered to be of any interest.

"May!" He spotted her just ahead.

"Oh, hey, what's going on?"

He looked at Latias expectantly and she nudged for them to hop on, flying them to an island south of the mainland. They found a beast of a man there, along with someone else in uniform Steven recognised as that of Team Aqua.

"What are you doing here?" Steven asked.

They mumbled something before turning around. "That's none of your business, bro."

Latias chirped angrily. Steven held a hand out and Latias rested her head against it. He saw a blue version of her, her brother. He saw Aqua's intent to capture them.

"I can't let you take them," he said.

"I can't disappoint my best bro, Archie. Come on, Sal, let's get 'em." The giant man drew a Pokéball from his belt.

His companion did as instructed, still transfixed on Steven. "I know that alluring gentleman, but I can't place where."

"May, will you assist me?"

She nodded, releasing a swampert. Steven chose Metagross.

The Aqua members weren't as pathetic as thought, and May exceeded every expectation he had. When they won the battle the two Aqua members fled the scene.

Latias chirped, flying in circles with joy. She approached May and dropped something into her hand.

"Oh my!" Steven saw the glint of the stone, it was unmistakable. "That's a mega stone!"

"Oh right, shame I can't use it." She patted Latias's head in thanks anyway.

"Here." Steven held out the key stone from his stickpin.

"What? I can't possibly accept this," she said, noticing it was his personal stone.

He pushed it into her hand. "Please, the key stone is not the important bit, the mega stone is. I am heir to a company that makes these, it is my gift to you. Thank you for your help earlier."

May popped both stones into her pocket. "Thanks. I guess I should get going." Latias nudged her. "Huh? …You want me to catch you?"

Steven looked surprised. So this was why they had picked up May. Perhaps Latias knew she needed him to get a key stone too. He watched as Latias submitted to May's pokéball, feeling blessed to have taken part in this adventure.

 **OooO**

"I think we should get a secret base together," Steven said. "Somewhere we can go and just chill away from the rest of the world."

"Do I get to decorate it?" Wallace asked.

"Naturally. I can't wait to go back to Sinnoh so you can do the villa up nicely."

"Did you have an idea of where you wanted such a base?"

Steven pondered. "Route 111? Route 114, right outside Meteor Falls?"

Wallace looked disappointed in his choices. "I was hoping for a more…leafy base. For one, I am not walking through a sandstorm zone to get to our base. As for Meteor Falls, is there any point? I mean, I probably would never see you and it would end up full of rocks."

"You're right, you should pick the location."

"Perhaps routes 120 and 121?"

Steven nodded. "Near Winona and shopping then?"

"If we're near those two cities we wouldn't have far to move our base items. It's also a nice, quiet area. We could get somewhere quite out of the way. Meanwhile everyone walks past Meteor Falls."

So it came to be that Steven found himself on grassier routes. While Wallace searched for the perfect base he had brought along something to amuse himself.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, hi, May." He removed the item he was holding from his face. "This is a Devon Scope, it lets you see Pokémon that are invisible. Here, have a go!"

May looked through the scope. "Ah, it's a kecleon."

"Pretty neat, right?"

"Yeah, I've been having trouble with some invisible things lately. I wasn't sure if I was going mad."

"Well then, take this."

She looked down at the scope. "You sure do give a lot of things away for free."

He shrugged. "I have a lot of things. If you want any rocks, let me know. Talking of rocks – how is Latias and the mega stone working out?"

"She flies like a plane. It's insane, but I love it."

He was a little jealous Latias had never mega-evolved for him. "Well, take care, I have to find my friend."

It took a little wandering before Steven finally heard Wallace call him from a tree. They were sat on a branch, looking down at him. "Who was that?"

He began to climb the rope ladder Wallace had put down. "That was May. We've met a few times. I'm sure you'll meet her too when she comes for your gym badge."

"Oh? Well, I do look forward to that. Anyway, come inside."

Wallace led him through to a very circular base in the tree. It seemed to be well maintained and even had a nice view of the lake he had just been above.

"Is this the one?" Steven asked.

"I think so." Wallace paced around the space. "I want a circular mat in the centre and we'll build around it. No candles or other fire-related items. I want to keep this base. I've found a good spot."

The following day Steven was dragged along for window shopping. Wallace didn't wish to start purchasing things without seeing all their options. Steven was there to attempt to give his opinion on things, but he honestly wasn't too bothered if things didn't match or fit a theme.

Once Wallace had drawn up several ideas and decided on one, he and his Pokémon were enlisted in the moving process, carrying things from Lilycove and Fortree to their base. Suddenly Steven was glad they had chosen a base on Route 120.

"Wallace, I'm going to fall," Steven complained as he tried to climb the ladder while blindfolded.

"Fine, but no peeking."

It had been several evenings of decorating for Wallace and they had decided that Steven wasn't allowed to see it until it was done. It didn't seem to bother Wallace that Steven knew exactly what had been bought and had seen the designs on paper.

Once he was near the top of the ladder he held out his hand. "Here, help me up so I can keep my eyes closed."

Wallace pulled him up and to the centre of the base. "Now you can look."

The whole base had a beautiful light to it, small fairy lights having been weaved between the tree branches. There was a blue rug with waves on it in the centre, several cushions and pokédolls piled on top. Wallace had chosen luvdisc dolls, one of which was shiny. In front of the rug was a TV and flanking it were two desks. One desk was made of steel with a small rock display on it – Steven's main input to the base. The other was an icy desk with one of Wallace's contest trophies. The remaining space was filled with a jukebox and a bed. Wallace was sure they were going to spend a few nights in the base, especially as it was so much quicker to get to Lilycove for contests, so the bed was an important if not slightly awkward item. It certainly didn't fit into the circular base well, but Steven liked that it made everything less perfect.

"You've done a wonderful job," Steven said. "It looks so homely and comfortable." He took off his shoes and jacket before sitting on the rug, the shiny luvdisc having caught his eye.

"I knew you'd come in your usual attire, so I planned ahead," Wallace said, pulling out a box from under the bed. "If you wish to change into something to lounge around in, I have brought some things from your wardrobe."

"Wow, I haven't see this shirt in years." Steven pulled out a t-shirt with a design featuring omanyte, kabuto and aerodactyl.

"I figured you wouldn't mind me taking these from the depths of your wardrobe. You do really need to sort out some of the stuff in there. Imagine – you might even have room for more rocks."

Feeling like he was suddenly 5 years younger, Steven dived back onto the mat, arranging the cushions so he could lay comfortably. "I wish I had a cute fluffy Pokémon to cuddle up with."

"Hmm… I guess we're just not those kind of trainers. But since when was a steel Pokémon not cuddly enough for you?"

"Since I started dating you and you turned me into a cuddly person."

Wallace curled up with him. "Well, I'll just have to suffice then."

Steven stared at trophy on Wallace's desk. "I haven't asked about the Wallace Cup for a while," he thought aloud.

"That's part of the reason I judged in Sinnoh – to get a bit more experience and to convince the lovely Fantina to judge at my Cup. She said yes, of course."

"So when will it happen?"

"Ehh… The last I heard the officials want it to be an annual competition, one that focuses more on the beauty aspect, but, as usual, they are taking their time figuring out where it fits into the grand scheme of things."

"You'll have wrinkles by the time you host it."

Wallace pushed him away. "If you're going to be mean to me after I just made this base look so wonderful, you can leave."

"Nooo, I want hugs." Steven rolled to close the gap again. Wallace couldn't refuse him.

 **OooO**

"Uncle Wallace!" Lisia was poking her head through the window of the house.

"Oh, yes, I forgot to mention Lisia was coming round," they said as they went to answer the door.

"Hey, Steven!" She waved. "I hope I'm not interrupting _anything._ "

Wallace flicked her head. "No, we're making brownies to satisfy someone's sweet craving."

"Nice, can I have some?" She took a seat next to Steven, stealing Wallace's space.

"I'll think about it." Wallace disappeared upstairs.

"So, Steven, how's everything going? It's been a while."

"Yeah, it has. Everything's pretty good at the moment. I don't know if I ever properly thanked you for all the help you gave me with the social media stuff…that was what, a year ago now?"

"Time sure has flown," she nodded. "How come I didn't win the photo contest for the New Year's shoot?" She laughed. "I know, I was too young, but I thought it would help promote it. Wallace said you had several thousand entrants."

"Yeah, way more than I thought. I guess that's why I haven't run another one since."

"Maybe you could make it a yearly thing? Steven Stone's annual photo competition."

He hummed. "Maybe. I suppose it's a nice idea. I'll see if I can devote that much time to it again. I never would have got through them all without Wallace."

"You know they'll always offer to help – and then run the whole thing!"

Wallace appeared carrying a box. "I think you'll find my services are sought out and appreciated."

Lisia jumped up, moving to take a seat at the table. "Well, I wouldn't be here otherwise."

"So, tell me what you're thinking?" Wallace asked as they laid out a sheet of paper and grabbed a pencil.

Lisia began to describe an outfit, blue and white, her usual fare. Then she started to describe the finer details like the fabrics and how it was going to fit. Steven was quite lost and wandered over to see what Wallace was sketching as she talked.

After a few questions Wallace reminded Steven about the brownies and Lisia followed him to the kitchen.

"So, is there an occasion coming up?" Steven asked as he dipped a knife into the brownie; it wasn't quite done yet.

"I want something new for a Master Rank contest against someone special."

"Oh? Who is so special as to warrant a new outfit?"

"Her name's May," Lisia said. "She's super talented and I've taken her under my wing as a kind of apprentice in the contest world. She's also a really great trainer – every time I see her she has another badge. I can tell she'll go far."

"May? She wouldn't happen to have short brown hair, always wearing red?"

"Yeah, that's her! Do you know her too?"

Steven nodded. "We've battled together and bumped into each other a few times along her journey. I'm waiting for her to meet me at the League."

"I wish I could see that battle. I can tell it'll be a good one."

"So you have no doubt she'll beat your uncle?"

Lisia shrugged, trying to play it cool. "I'm not saying that, but she's definitely not going to give up. Besides, she's smart, she'll know what types to use to win."

"I'm easily beaten with fire types, you know."

"You're also behind four elite trainers with no breaks."

"Fair point," he said.

By the time the brownie was cooked Wallace had finished sketching several options for Lisia to choose from. Wallace's creativity never ceased to amaze him and it seemed sad that only one of these would be brought to life.


	9. Alpha Sapphire

"I have a treat for you today," Wallace announced.

Steven cocked a brow. "And what would that be?"

"Well, I know you've been asking to do this since forever it feels."

"Wallace…" Were they pulling his leg?

"We're going to go into the Cave of Origin."

Steven felt the excitement burst like a bubble in his chest, wanting to yell in triumph. "IT'S BEEN 3000 YEARS!" A slight exaggeration, it was probably about 10 years since he had first asked. "But wait – how are we going to get in? I thought it was locked."

"It is, but I have the key."

"Yooooo! Wallaaaace what how?"

"Well, by all rights it should be in my sister's hands, but seeing as she decided to leave Sootopolis - for Fallabour of all places, it was passed on to me when I turned 20."

"You've had it for this many years and you only tell me now?"

Wallace shrugged. "I wasn't going to go in as soon as I was given the key. I feel like I was given it because Dad thought I was worthy of protecting it."

"Then what made you change your mind?"

"There's nothing stopping me from going in, I just didn't feel a great need to. But all of your asking has made me curious over the years."

Well, Steven didn't want Wallace to take back their decision, so he stopped asking questions and got ready in record time. He dragged Wallace out of the door and onto Skarmory's back, zooming off to Sootopolis.

"What?" Steven said as Wallace began to walk in the direction of their house.

"Well, I didn't bring it with me in case you said no."

Steven groaned. He grabbed Wallace and jumped back on Skarmory, taking them that short distance across the city. Wallace decided a change of shoes as well as grabbing the key was in order and Steven stood by the door, too excited to sit down.

When Wallace opened the door to the cave Steven was underwhelmed. Inside it was dark and he could barely see anything to be wowed by.

"There are lamps on the walls," Wallace said. "But seeing as hardly anyone comes in here they're not kept lit for visitors like us."

"I can sort that out." Steven released Aggron. "Aggron, light the wall torches!"

Wallace did have a gyarados for times like these, bless its wide move pool, but Steven was way ahead of them. He was already feeling and tapping the walls, getting a sense of what was locked away from the world.

"So, am I allowed to break into the rock or would that be bad?"

"I'd ask that you didn't. Now we're inside I feel a little uneasy being in here."

"Is it too scary for you?" Steven asked. "Do you think it's haunted? Maybe there are ghost Pokémon in here!"

"No, it's just that I grew up hearing all the stories about this place. And Grandpa used to always say that no man or woman from Sootopolis should step foot in here or bad things will happen. Okay, perhaps he didn't say it like that, but he heavily implied it was not a good idea to go against this advice."

"But Wallace, you aren't either of those," Steven pointed out.

"As much as I hate the binarist language Grandpa used, I'm pretty sure he meant any Sootopolitan. If you wanted to be picky you could claim a child would be exempt too by those standards."

"So, you could have just waited outside if you didn't want to come in." Steven began to walk further into the cave.

"I was curious. I wanted to see what my family has been guarding for generations." Wallace finally took a few more steps. "I was expecting it to be a little more interesting than just a plain looking cave."

"Perhaps there's something on the lower levels?" Steven stood at the top of a ladder, looking down into darkness.

Wallace sighed. "I guess I'm already in here, so I might as well."

There wasn't a whole lot to the cave. But, what did Steven expect of a cave that fit into a crater that was Sootopolis? There were several rather small floors leading down to a room with a small lake. The water was so still and dark that Steven had almost walked straight into it.

"It's odd that nothing's down here," Steven said. They had passed many zubats and golbats, even the occasional sableye and mawile, but on this floor there was silence.

"Eerie," Wallace agreed. "I think this is the last floor; where the name 'Origin' comes into play. They say this place is the opposite of Mt. Pyre – life ends there, whereas here, life begins."

"That seems hard to believe when I actually see living Pokémon on Mt. Pyre and not a soul here."

"A Pokémon's life begins in an egg, and yet once the egg has hatched you won't find a Pokémon in it."

Steven thought for a moment. "I kind of see what you're saying. Anyway, I've seen enough of this place. It's enough to give me the chills."

"Who would have thought a cave could make you feel anything but happiness?"

Steven took their hand. "I'm always happy when I'm with you. Thank you for letting me in here and accompanying me."

They began to climb back up. Wallace was exhausted by the end of it. "I don't think I've ever done so much lifting."

"I think you might have muscles as big as mine now," Steven joked.

"I hope not, unless that's something you'd like."

Steven squeezed Wallace's upper arm to test it. "Of course I'd love that," he said quietly as he leant in to kiss Wallace.

"What, really?" Wallace was confused. "Do you actually have a preference?"

Steven smirked and kept up his seductive tone. "Muscles really turn me on, I love knowing that such people will be able to dig with me all night long."

Wallace pushed him away. "Arceus, save me from this hell."

Steven let out the laugh he'd been holding back. "You actually thought I was being serious?"

"I have learned many things about you and you do have some preferences, so it was entirely possible."

"Appearance preferences are pretty non-existent though," Steven said.

"You said you still find some people more aesthetically pleasing than others."

Steven pulled Wallace close again. "I do, and I'm lucky I happen to be dating one of those more beautiful people."

 **OooO**

Steven had just ended a call when the ground shook beneath him. Something was very wrong – perhaps Mt. Chimney was erupting? He rushed outside where several bystanders were already gathered, muttering about what they thought it could be. A quick ride on Skarmory told him it wasn't the volcano.

"May!" He spotted her after he'd returned to ground. "The twins just rang me about you. They're so cute, always calling as soon as they beat –"

Suddenly a green light shot up into the sky, the crowd suddenly silent.

"Okay, that's not…that's not normal. Where is that even coming from?" It seemed to be between Ever Grande and Sootopolis, but Steven had no idea what point of interest there was between the two cities.

"If I had to guess," May said in a rather bored tone considering what they had just witnessed. "I'd bet Team Aqua or Magma was behind that. Aqua really wasn't happy about me getting through their base. They escaped in their submarine."

"You've been busy I see." Steven was rather impressed.

"The pair of them have been trying to out-do each other and awaken some legendary Pokémon," May continued. "I'd say Archie succeeded because that looks like a lot of ocean."

"Well, if that's true then we're in a lot of trouble. Come with me." He led her to his house and began to rummage in a drawer. "Sorry about the mess."

"Somehow I imagined your house would be just like this," May said. "I don't even want to guess how many rocks are in here."

Steven handed her a disc. "That's the HM containing Dive. I figure you'll need it."

She took it and stared at it. "You're expecting me, barely a teenager, to go and deal with what we just saw?"

"I…no? You just seem to be in these guys' business so I just assumed that light was where you were heading?"

"Well, you're not wrong." She smiled. "Of course I'm going after them. I have to finish this."

"I would come with you for support, but I have a lack of water Pokémon at the moment."

She raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had all the fossil Pokémon – doesn't the omanyte line learn dive?"

"Yes, but I don't like keeping Pokémon locked up in the PC. I would rather keep them as fossils."

May shrugged. "Suit yourself. I should get going."

"Wait!" He rushed upstairs and dug deep into his wardrobe, pulling out his old scuba gear. By the time he returned downstairs, May was nowhere to be seen. He rushed out of the door and could see her surfing away in the distance. With Skarmory's help he began to give chase, but she was seemingly speeding away still.

He didn't catch up until she stopped at her destination, finding out she had been surfing on a sharpedo.

"That's a fast one you have there," he said as he hoped onto the ring of sand she had stopped at.

"No time to waste."

"Well, I don't know how you were planning to dive, but I figured you might need this." He handed over the scuba gear.

"Yeah, this'll be very handy."

She returned Sharpedo to its ball, only to release it again, this time into the pool of water inside the sand ring which was faintly glowing green. As soon as she'd secured the gear she jumped into the water with Sharpedo and was gone.

He looked at Skarmory. "Guess we'll wait here, buddy." He didn't know what to do other than wait. Going elsewhere at a time like this seemed like a ridiculous notion. Something incredible was unfolding literally beneath his feet and he wished he could be there to see it. Besides, if this teenager couldn't handle whatever happened, he felt that as the region's Champion, he had to step in and do what he could. They didn't warn him about reawakening legendary Pokémon in the job description, but who else was going to sort this out?

The ground began to move again and he held onto Skarmory for support. Something moved under the waves and he just caught a glimpse of the blue giant before a wave of water hit him. He was about to complain about getting wet, but that was unnecessary as tidal rain began to fall within seconds. Steven tried to ascertain where the Pokémon had fled to, but he could barely see anything but the rain now. If it had continued in the direction he had seen it going…could it be going to Sootopolis? Oh…

"Look at this mess!"

Steven turned to find he had been joined by several people, he had seen them on the TV, and May was back.

"C'mon, Maxie, I just wanted to make more water for the Pokémon to live in."

"And look what you've done! It won't stop raining, Kyogre is angry – what happens now, Archie?"

The pair continued to bicker like children.

"Neither of your ideas were going to be good for the environment," Steven interjected. "I think we have quite a good balance as it is."

"Well, it was Archie who did this, not me," Maxie said, trying to act as if his plan wouldn't have ended with something equally terrible.

"Honestly, these two will argue all day," May said. "We need to figure out how to stop this, and hopefully they'll figure out how to apologise and learn from their mistakes."

"Wow, Maxie, even lil' May is disappointed in us."

"We haven't been very good adult role models for her certainly," Maxie agreed.

"I think Kyogre's gone to the Cave of Origin," Steven said. "I saw it headed in Sootopolis' direction, but I trust you to have a better idea than me."

"Best lead I have at the moment."

"I guess I'll see you there." Steven hopped onto Skarmory and they began their journey through the rain. He had never been more grateful that Skarmory's wings were made of steel rather than feathered. His wings beat through the water with determination; he knew that the world was in danger and he needed to get them closer to the solution.

They touched down outside Wallace's house. The lights were still on, but no one seemed to be home. Although they had traded keys some months ago, Steven didn't like just inviting himself in, but it could be helped. He stepped in and called for Wallace, but there was no reply. On the table there was a sewing machine with a garment half-sewn; Wallace would never leave something unfinished like this.

He tried to call them on the Nav, but the call wouldn't go through. It seemed Kyogre's weather was doing more damage than he thought. Before leaving he flicked the lights off, a sign that he had been here – or at least he hoped Wallace would interpret it as such. Without thinking he was heading towards the Cave of Origin. Wallace stood there, just staring at the closed doors.

"Wallace."

They turned around, still looking fabulous despite this torrential rain. "Steven!" They rushed forward to hug him. "Steven, this is all my fault."

"What?" He was baffled.

"I was always warned not to go into the cave and they were right – look at what's happened!"

"So Kyogre's definitely in there?" Steven asked.

"We all heard it." Wallace shuddered. "It shook the city and roared with a thunderous cry."

"Well, that's great news."

Wallace looked at him like he was mad. They put a hand to his forehead, trying to find the words they wanted.

Steven laughed. "I guess I do seem a bit calm about all this. Basically Team Aqua awakened Kyogre and it fled here. But now we know that we can put a stop to it."

"How do you quell the rage of a beast such as this?"

"Surely you know about the red and blue orbs that are supposed to calm the legendary beasts?"

"Of course, everyone knows the old stories. I've even been to see them on Mt. Pyre." Wallace sighed. "I don't suppose you just happen to have the one we need? It seems like the kind of thing you'd have, being a kind of stone."

"I wouldn't dare take something so precious, as much as I'd love to own such a treasure."

"Well, aren't you two in luck?" a voice came from behind them.

"May!"

After introductions were finished, May produced the blue orb from her bag.

"Where did you get it?"

"I stole it." Archie and the others he had seen on the sand ring had arrived too. "I used it to awaken Kyogre and I realise I shouldn't have done that."

"But we can also use it to calm it, right?" Shelly asked.

"According to legend, but who wants such a responsibility?" Steven wondered.

May slipped the orb back into her bag. "The orb is mine now," she stated.

"Yeah, I gave it to her because I shouldn't be trusted with that kind of power," Archie said.

"Oh, so you would rather send a child to fix your mistakes than face them?" Maxie asked.

"Man, you don't have to say it like that."

"I would rather go down there than put my hopes in one of you," Wallace said.

"May," Steven looked at her with a seriousness in his eyes. "I can see you don't want to give the orb up, but someone needs to go down there and put a stop to this. I volunteer to do this." He felt Wallace squeeze his hand. Deep down he was terrified; he didn't want to face such a large Pokémon in such a rage. As much as he believed Metagross could handle this, Kyogre could probably kill him before he had the chance to throw a pokéball.

"No," May said firmly. "This is my destiny now." She stepped forward. "Open the door."

Wallace hesitated, but they weren't going to stop her. She stepped into the cave, head held high. Steven wanted to follow her, but he could tell she wouldn't allow such a thing.

"Was that the right thing to do?" Wallace asked.

"I don't know," Steven said honestly.

"May's one of the best trainers I've ever seen," Archie said like a proud father. "She's gonna do what needs to be done and when she returns it'll all be fine again."

He hoped Archie was right.

The uncertainty could be heard in the silence. Everyone was listening for any sound from the cave. In his head, Steven was tracing his steps from the other day, trying to picture how far in the cave May had gotten.

A faint roar could be heard and they exchanged worried glances.

"How long should we wait?" Maxie asked.

"Well, surely Kyogre will quieten down if…" Wallace wasn't sure they wanted to complete that sentence.

"I think what they're _trying_ to say," Steven said, "is that we will know when – if – we should act."

It sounded like a good battle was going down and now Steven really regretted not going along – if only to watch. Things began to quieten down, but it was difficult to tell what was happening. Soon there was silence.

"I think it's over," Archie whispered.

"Yeah…" Steven looked up at the sky. No one had noticed the rain slowly subsiding as the battle below had waged.

"I'm glad you all still look as wet as me." May has appeared beside her gardevoir. "I'm surprised that lake has any water left."

"May!" Archie ran up and pulled her into a bear hug. "Man, I've gotta make this up to you somehow. I'll treat you ice cream or something."

"I think it'll take a lot more than that," Maxie muttered.

"So, what happened down there?" Steven asked.

May held out a net ball.

"What? Kyogre's in there?" Wallace stared in disbelief.

She shrugged it off. "Gotta catch 'em all, right?" She pocketed the ball and began to walk away.

"Huh? Where are you off to?" Steven called after her.

"It has been a _long_ day," she said. "I'm looking for a comfy chair and a change of clothes."

And so it was that Wallace ended up with more guests than they were expecting at any point today, all gathered in their living room. May was sat in one of Lisia's old outfits while her clothes dried, enjoying the sofa all to herself. The team members were told to stuff it (even though Maxie would probably have fit into something of Wallace's), they were given some tea and a wooden chair to sit on while they air-dried.

May filled them in on her adventure so far, with the occasional addition from the others – they didn't like being painted as bad guys who'd tried to end the world (no, it wasn't 'ending', it was 'adding to').

Wallace listened to every word, finding it absolutely fascinating. If only their adventure had been this interesting. "I suppose my gym is your next destination?"

May nodded. "Thanks for letting me stay here, but I won't go easy on you because of that."

"I fully expect to get beaten."

Eventually Wallace successfully hinted that it was getting late and that people should make a move. They showed May to her room; Wallace's sister's old room. The room was largely unchanged since she moved out as they kept it as a guest room – Lisia and Steven had often spent a night in there. Being exhausted from possibly the most adrenaline-filled day of her life, May turned in early and wouldn't be seen for the next 12 hours.

"Steven…" Wallace cuddled up to him as soon as he climbed onto the bed. They said nothing, just held him tight.

"Is everything alright?" Steven asked. This wasn't the usual kind of cuddle Wallace gave, there was something different in the way Wallace held on to him.

"I was so scared today," Wallace admitted. "When you said you'd go down into the cave… I didn't want to think about it."

"I was scared too. I didn't want anyone to go down there, but it had to be done. When I saw the determination in May's eyes…she gave me strength to volunteer, but when she went down I had complete faith she would succeed."

"But it could have so easily have gone differently…and if it had been you… Steven, I don't ever want to lose you." Wallace entwined their fingers. "You're my best friend and the best boyfriend I could ask for." They sighed and moved so they could look into Steven's eyes. "I know this won't keep either of us from getting into dangerous situations, although I think today is enough for one lifetime, Steven…I…" They looked away, uncertainty on their face.

"Wallace?"

"I don't know how you'll react to this. I don't want to put you under any pressure."

He stroked Wallace's cheek. "Tell me."

"This isn't how I ever envisioned asking this, but," they took his hand in both of theirs', eyes locked. "Steven Stone, will you marry me?"

Steven's eyes widened; this certainly wasn't what he was expecting. "Wallace, I…"

"I know, it's quite a question." Wallace laughed nervously.

"'Quite' is an understatement. That's a question of a lifetime." Steven ran a hand through his hair. "And yet I have no reason to say no, nor can I imagine saying yes to anyone else."

"I don't need an answer right now. I don't even need an answer – I guess I just wanted to tell you how much I love you by asking you something so special."

"Well, I've put up with you for ten years already," Steven joked. "What's another 60?"

"We weren't dating for ten years," Wallace pointed out.

"Dating you isn't much different from being your friend. Sometimes I forget there was a time when I wasn't all soppy with you."

"You could be a lot more soppy. When was the last time you randomly sent me flowers?"

Steven scrunched his face in disgust. "Because that is a terrible way to show someone you love them. I would send you rocks – rocks last forever while flowers die. Although I would rather just turn up myself."

"I prefer that too." Wallace leaned in to kiss him. "Imagine if everything had gone wrong today and Kyogre had flooded the city – yesterday would have been our last day together."

"And we spent it well in the Cave of Origin, thank you for a wonderful last day, I would have said."

Wallace sighed. "And then you went home."

"Are you asking me to move in? Or asking to move in with me?"

"It's what married couples do, right?"

"I haven't said yes officially," Steven reminded them. "I'll have to think about this condition. Oh…I suppose I could live here and turn my Mossdeep home into a small rock museum."

Wallace had no words, but what else would Steven be thinking about when it came to moving home? At least they wouldn't have to suffer trying to move the whole collection into their house.


	10. Delta Emerald

"I have a special delivery for you from downstairs." Maria set down three ring boxes.

Steven smiled. "Did you have a peak?"

"No, but I am intrigued."

He opened the first one to reveal a plain steel band. Steven slipped it onto his finger. "That was just the base one I sent down, nothing special." He opened the next one which held an almost identical ring, but this one had a small sapphire embedded in it. The last box had a similar ring, but it was thinner.

"And what are these for?" Her smile told him she already knew.

"Wallace proposed and, well, I haven't said yes yet, so I thought I would do it like this." He turned the rings over in his hands, he hoped Wallace liked his choice. "I doubt Wallace has plans in case I say no, or just never get back to them."

"I suppose I should congratulate you then."

"I still have time to change my mind." No, he had decided the night Wallace had asked, as he tried to get to sleep, but was high on this warm feeling in his chest. Having the rings made was just another layer of confirmation.

 **OooO**

Kyogre was a beast in its primal form. In the space of a few seconds it had doubled in size and Steven was fighting the urge to throw in the towel now. He had seen the occasional wailord or steelix, but this was something else. The way it glowed was enchanting, but it still had that piercing stare. At least wailords looked kind of cute despite their size.

May's coming had been celebrated all day. Other challengers had mentioned they'd seen her around for a few days and they had all been waiting for her challenge. Steven had told Sidney to phone ahead when she arrived; he knew she would be facing him when she decided to set foot through the door.

Now she stood before him, commanding an ancient Pokémon like any other. She had caught it after all, so why wouldn't it obey? Nothing in his party could counter a water Pokémon of such power, not with Cradily already out for the count. Still, he had to put up a fight, so he fought with all he had. Kyogre fell in the end, but he was left with only Metagross standing and May still had 3 Pokémon available.

It was Mega Swampert versus Mega Metagross. Metagross just about managed to take down Swampert, but it was one attack away from collapsing. A moonblast from Gardevoir and Steven was out of usable Pokémon, congratulating May on her victory.

"I didn't expect any less."

"I wish I'd taken a picture of your face when you saw Kyogre. Were you really not expecting me to use it?"

"It's been about a month since the incident? And in such a short space of time you've managed to tame such an ancient Pokémon?" Steven patted her shoulder. "I am very impressed."

They proceeded to the Hall of Fame where Steven asked the usual question.

"Yes."

"What?" May never failed to surprise him. "You want to be champion?"

"Of course. My dad will be proud."

 **OooO**

"I'm out of a job." Steven felt quite out of place, having held the champion title for over a year he had become quite comfortable introducing himself as such. "I honestly didn't expect her to take it."

"I pegged her for an adventurer to the core, after all she's done so far," Wallace agreed. "But maybe she's been out-adventured and wants some down-time."

"She mentioned there was more to see in Hoenn, something about Rayquaza?"

Wallace's eyebrows were as high as they could go. "Was one ancient Pokémon not enough for her? I am not going to entertain her little game of catch-the-legendaries."

"Surely we can just let her get on with it?" Steven asked. "I mean, Rayquaza brings peace, not destruction."

They sighed. "Do you know where Rayquaza supposedly resides?"

"Um…I thought it just kind of came from the sky and… No, I have no idea."

"There is a place called the Sky Pillar, you've probably seen it on the way to Ever Grande, a tall tower not far from Pacifidlog Town."

Steven nodded. "Looks abandoned to me. But if it's not in Sootopolis then why does it bother you?"

"There is a seal on the Pillar and very few people have the power to open it. Two ancient peoples to be precise; the Draconids and Sootopolitans. Now, I myself do not know if any Draconids still live in Hoenn, but maybe May knows of one. May does know at least two Sootopolitans and I know the one I would go to if I was her."

"So, you've just got to open a door? Or Lisia opens it?"

"If Lisia opens it I will still undoubtedly be involved," they sighed. "And then I'll be there and involved in the mess. And when they ask who let someone into the Pillar it will be me. So, no, I'm not having it."

Despite Wallace's protests, they were very much dragged into the Rayquaza business. In the end they had no choice as meteorites were falling from the sky more frequently and the Mossdeep space centre was warning them of an even bigger one.

"I blame that Archie for all of this," Wallace huffed. "If he hadn't woken Kyogre none of this would have happened."

"Calm down." Steven massaged their shoulders. "May will fix this, just like last time."

"Steven, there is literally a meteor heading for this region. Did you know that Sootopolis was created last time that happened?"

"I did, but surely it wouldn't hit the same place again? We'll be fine."

"How can you be so calm about all of this? This is even more terrifying than Kyogre and you're not even breaking a sweat?"

Steven continued to press into their shoulder blades, but they stood up to face him. "Last time you said that it could have been our last day in the Cave of Origin. I don't want today – or tomorrow – to be our last day and you couldn't enjoy it with me." Steven took their hand and led them outside. "Then let's go to the beach, like we used to."

He felt like he was a teenager again, running into the waves and trying to splash Wallace with as much water as he could move. As always, he could never win; Wallace always enlisted the help of their Pokémon to push him back to shore.

As they made their way back to Steven's, they saw a familiar face lying on a sun lounger.

"Good evening, children," May said, looking quite mysterious in her sunglasses. "What a fine day it is to splash about in the sea. I see you have a plan for the meteor all sorted."

"We needed a break from all of that – a refresher," Steven suggested.

"Well, while you two were enjoying yourselves I figured out a plan."

Steven shouldn't have been surprised. "Do tell."

"All you need to know is this: Wallace needs to meet me outside the Sky Pillar. Let's say tomorrow at midday."

"I thought you had someone to help you in?" Wallace had heard rumours of a Draconid woman called Zinnia making an appearance.

May frowned. "I did, but she isn't reliable. You, on the other hand, are easy to find."

Wallace sighed. "I guess I cannot deny the Champion's request."

That caught Steven off guard. It was very odd to hear someone else be called the Champion in his presence.

"Steven, I suggest you find a good spot to watch from. It's going to be quite the show."

She was quickly becoming one of the most intimidating people he'd ever met.

There was no way he wasn't going to take her advice. At midday he took up his position on the rocky crater of Sootopolis. It wasn't the most comfortable spot in the world, but it certainly had the best view if he wanted to see anything happening on the top of the Pillar.

Perhaps he had been a bit hasty getting there at the time she'd asked Wallace to open the door for her. It would take her some time to climb the Pillar. Still, he waited patiently, inspecting the rock that made up Sootopolis' walls.

There was a flash of light and clouds gathered above the Sky Pillar. Binoculars at the ready, he watched as a long, green Pokémon descended from the sky. She really had done it – she'd summoned Rayquaza. The sky cleared and he could see it hovering just above the Pillar. It began to move and he could tell she was battling it. Kyogre joined the fight and he watched as titans fought.

A flash of red, the disappearance of the green dragon. It remerged from the balls she threw at it many times. From where he stood he was yelling for her to succeed, even though she couldn't hear him.

Kyogre was withdrawn and he knew that this time she had caught Rayquaza. It was several minutes before she released it again and it emitted a bright light. It was hard to tell exactly what had happened, but it appeared to have undergone some form of mega evolution. Did Rayquaza also possess a primal form? It shot up into the sky, going far into the atmosphere until he could no longer see it, left to wonder what happened next.

"Wallace, what's happening?" Steven asked over the Nav.

"I said I wasn't getting involved, so you'll find I'm surfing home. But yes, I did just see a green dragon shoot off the top of the Pillar."

Was the show May promised over? He waited. Wallace arrived. He continued to look out at the Pillar.

The dragon dived back down. Several hours later a meteor shower followed in its wake. They watched from the island outside the Cave of Origin. The meteorites flew over Sootopolis and north towards Mossdeep.

"I'm going to find one of those," Steven said.

"Bring me back one."

"I'll find you the biggest one I can." He sat up, pulling a box from his pocket. "Wallace."

"Yes?" They remained lying down, still watching the last of the meteorites overhead.

"Do you really want to marry me?"

Now he had Wallace's attention. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't."

"Even though I'm not Champion anymore, care about rocks more than people most of the time, and have no interest in advancing our sex life?"

Wallace put an arm around him and he quickly stashed the box just out of sight. "My dear Steven, these things don't matter to me. As long as you love me more than rocks, then I think I can cope. Although, on the subject of championship, I was thinking of training a little and trying to win the title from May."

"Really?" That was an amusing thought.

"I think I could do with a promotion."

"But, seriously, Wallace, I want to know how you really feel about the lack of actual sex. I did a bit of research online to see what allosexuals thought about it and –"

Wallace pressed a finger to his lips. "Steven, I'll say it again, more plainly: I knew exactly what I was getting into when I asked. I don't know what people online said, but I once tried to build relationships on sex and attraction and they didn't work out. We had hardly anything in common other than we thought each other hot as magcargos. I would much rather spend my life with someone as interesting as you."

Steven smiled and picked up the box once more. "Then I want to say yes." He flicked it open to show Wallace the ring inside.

There was a soft gasp before Wallace threw both arms around him. When they had finished hugging him they looked at the ring properly. "I cannot believe you. I proposed – I was supposed to get _you_ a ring."

"Well I figured we should have rings we like if we're going to wear them for – hopefully – the rest of our lives. So I had one made just like this for me, but we can change things."

"No, it's beautiful." Wallace slipped it onto their finger; a perfect fit. "It'll always remind me of you for sure."

Steven inspected the ring on their finger before slipping it off and placing it back in the box. Wallace raised an eyebrow. "I don't get to keep it?"

"Not until we get married," Steven said. "Oh… I messed it up, didn't I? I was supposed to get you an engagement ring first."

"It's not important. They hardly have any purpose anyway. I'll take that meteorite you promised me as an engagement gift instead."

"Do I get something too?" Steven asked.

Wallace couldn't help but smile; they had planned this for some time now. "When you see your gift…oh, I can't wait. It's definitely several birthdays' worth of gifts."

"What? I was just kidding – you don't have to get me anything."

"I was going to get you this regardless, even before I considered marriage." They pulled their jacket tighter around them.

"It is a bit chilly, isn't it?" Steven looked up to find the meteorites were more sporadic now. "If you want to skip the rest of the meteorite shower we can go home and warm up with hot chocolate."

Wallace nodded, perhaps just a bit too enthusiastically.


	11. Canon

By agreeing to marry Wallace he had also agreed to have their wedding planned by his betrothed. Most of the time he was required to be present Wallace talked at him and he just nodded along. The ceremony was not important to him – it was about the act of pledging himself to Wallace, something he was still getting used to. While he didn't intend to ever find anyone else, he had never imagined himself to be part of such a couple. Whenever he thought of an older version of himself it was alone, just Steven (who came with Metagross and a stunning collection of rocks and stones). Now he had to think about it as Steven and Wallace, two people that came together…an official union. Surely marriage wouldn't change much, but he had grown up viewing it as such a life-changing, defining part of one's life should they choose it.

"…the guest list should be small? Unless you wanted to invite lots, but I thought you'd appreciate something a bit more private."

He hadn't really considered who he would invite to what he considered to be an embarrassing event. Why would anyone want to invite people to watch them say how much they love someone else? And then kiss them in front of everyone?

"Steven, do you have any input?"

"As small as it can be," he said.

Wallace consulted the list of potential guests. "Your dad is a must, but I'm assuming that there's no other family to invite?"

"No. He'd kill me if I didn't invite him."

"Your dad's cool. I'd invite him as my guest if you didn't. Of course on my side I have more than I'd like to invite."

"Are your parents coming?" Steven asked. He had met them a few times when they were younger, during his own adventure.

"I doubt they'll pass up the opportunity to visit," Wallace sighed. "I also doubt they'll be pleased when they find out who I'm marrying."

Steven looked confused. "Why? I'm sure most people would be delighted their child is marrying into the Stone fortune." It hadn't taken Steven long to figure out that some people were only interested in him when they learned his surname.

"My parents became very interested in having grandchildren when Lisia was born. Seeing as I was still young when she was born they tried to steer me in the same direction."

"We could adopt, or use a surrogate mother?" Steven suggested. "I mean, those are options, but I'll be honest, Wallace, I'm not a fan of children."

"Neither were my parents until they discovered the joys of having a grandchild they only had to look after for a few hours every now and again."

"Well, this isn't about them. How do you feel about it?"

Wallace grimaced. "Steven, can you honestly picture me looking after a small human full time? I will do as Juan did and take on older children to be my successors when the time comes, but I'm far from finished yet – I have a life to live!"

Steven smiled, glad they were on the same page. "So, apart from family, who else is on the list?"

"Our colleagues from the gyms and the League, a few contest friends of mine. I assume you wanted a few people from Devon?"

They counted a few more people, and if everyone replied they were looking at no more than 30 guests, unless they all plucked a plus-one from somewhere. They hoped that seeing as many of their guests already knew each other they would refrain from bringing unknown company.

While Wallace had Steven's attention they tried to ask for a few more preferences, but they were now entering the realm of 'I don't mind.' Yes, the cake should be chocolate, but how many tiers, and what of the decorations? It didn't matter to Steven.

Wallace ended up asking things on different days to get more input from Steven. He said a lot more when only asked about one thing.

"As for the actual ceremony, I was going to go more traditional. And seeing as we don't have many guests we could probably have it outside the Cave of Origin on that island, a nice throwback to when we first got together."

"That would be nice."

"So, what will you wear?"

That caught Steven's attention. "Um, clothes?"

"Yes, that would be good."

"Something to complement what you're wearing?"

"Dear, are you trying to commission me? And for your wedding outfit no less." Wallace sighed dramatically. "The idea is that we don't see each other all dressed up until the day."

"So you'd be quite happy for us not to match in the slightest?" Steven smirked, knowing Wallace wouldn't be able to agree to this.

"Fine, I shall employ some help," Wallace declared. "I will show Winona what I'm wearing and she will assist you in finding something suitable. I trust she will choose something good for you."

Winona was a very chill person to shop with. She also spared him the pain of trying on dozens of outfits, having done her research prior to meeting him in Lilycove.

"That one would look best," she said as he walked out in a blue suit. It was dark blue with black lapels. "Pair it with a white shirt and bow tie – cravat – whatever floats your boat."

He looked at himself in the mirror. Blue wasn't usually his colour, but it certainly made an interesting change, bringing out the blue undertones in his hair. "So, Wallace is wearing blue?"

"I would say that's cheating, but honestly what colours were you expecting them to wear?"

She had a point. "Seeing as you're kind of my stylist, is there anything else I should do?" He ran a hand through his hair. "I feel like something's…off."

"There's no steel on this suit?" she offered. "I know you like those armbands or cuffs made of steel, so there's that? Also until you put something around your neck it's going to look a bit odd. Well, it does to me because I usually see you with everything perfectly in place, except in your adverts."

"Ah, a good point." Mentioning the ads reminded him of all the prep he went through before they'd let him in front of a camera. "What should I do with my hair? There's this bit that always sticks up." He patted it down to see how that looked.

"What do you usually do on formal occasions?" she asked.

"Nothing? I only started to notice it was a bit messy when a photographer pointed it out."

She shrugged. "Well then it's up to you. I doubt Wallace will mind if they haven't already tried to tame it."

 **OooO**

"Who's that?" Steven asked as everyone was being ushered to their seats.

"Didn't Wallace tell you who was officiating your marriage?" Lisia was shocked.

Steven tried to remember this conversation. "Maybe, they told me a lot of things."

"That's Spenser. He lived in Sootopolis for years, used to guard the Cave of Origin every day."

"Oh, I remember him now. Why did he stop?"

Lisia shrugged. "Maybe you can ask him. I think his wife passed away or something. I know he's the Battle Palace's head. Maybe he saw the chance to move away and took it."

"I always hear about people moving out of this city."

Lisia side-eyed him. "Well, sounds like someone's about to move in."

"I might."

"I like that the city is always changing a bit. I mean it's built in a crater – there isn't much room to expand it like cities on the mainland."

Steven thought of home. "Maybe that's why I prefer Sootopolis to Mossdeep – slightly." But maybe he liked Sootopolis because Wallace lived there.

"Looks like we're almost ready," Lisia said.

Joseph Stone appeared beside him. "Son." He patted Steven on the shoulder. "I'm a very proud father today. I worried for a long time that you wouldn't find someone who was special to you. Wallace is a fine person indeed, I've always liked them."

"Thanks, Dad." He hoped he wouldn't have to endure a longer speech at the reception. Hopefully Wallace had told everyone speeches were unnecessary.

They stood in position at the end of the aisle, ready to walk when signalled to. Wallace's mother passed them and he knew his love had arrived. He remembered Wallace telling him about their parents fighting over who got to walk them down the aisle. Apparently their father had walked their sister down the aisle, so it was their mother's turn.

"Mum, stop fussing," Wallace huffed. Steven was extremely tempted to turn around. "No, it's fine, honestly. Steven, I see you trying to turn."

"It's not fair that you're getting to see my back," he complained.

"You only have to wait a few more minutes, depending on when Mum stops fixing everything."

Spenser motioned for Steven to start walking. Oh no, everyone was turning to watch them. Suddenly he wished Wallace had arrived first so they could steal all of the attention the front position brought. His father left him as he advanced towards Spenser. Finally he could turn and see Wallace. _Oh._

They really had gone for traditional. Their robe faded from white to blue, decorated with thick dark blue hems and a matching sash at their waist. Now Winona's choices made sense. They still matched, even if their styles of dress were from completely different times. He took Wallace's hands in his as they joined him in front of everyone. When he looked up he saw his smile reflected on Wallace's face and noticed the flowers around their hat.

"We are gathered here today…" Spenser began.

Steven paid some attention to what was being said, but it was so much more interesting to watch Wallace. They looked beautiful today and he could tell how happy they were which made him smile even more.

Lisia appeared beside them, holding a chalice with a long stem. Wallace took it from her and Steven held onto it, remembering Wallace telling him about this part. Spenser poured a tea into the chalice, it was made from the flowers that grew under the large tree behind them.

Wallace said their vows first. "Steven, my love, my elegant stone. There are many things I would vow to you on this day, and every day after this. As much as I would like to list off many things for our witnesses, I know that you drift off very easily during wedding talk."

Steven smiled and made sure Wallace had his full attention.

"I promise to you that I will always be there for you, whatever the circumstances. I will care for you until the day we part, and even look after your rocks. I promise to indulge you in the odd cave trip and maybe even carry your findings home. Today I feel as if our cup runneth over with love, and I want to vow that I will love you until I breathe no more. May this be a symbol of my devotion." Wallace brought the chalice to their lips and took a sip.

Steven knew that Wallace was going to out-do him in the vows. The advice they had given him was 'say whatever you want, but make sure you mean it.' Suddenly he felt like what he had thought of wasn't good enough. He was panicking now all eyes were on him. Wait, how was he going to start? Of all the speeches he had memorised in his life and this, the most important one (and one of the shortest), was slipping away. He had to push on.

"Wallace, my dearest friend, the person I love more than anything I could dig up from the earth. I had things to say right now, but I fear I will end up waffling as I have been dazzled by your vows, so I will say this: I vow to be your rock." He took the chalice and sipped from it. Well, it could have gone a lot worse, he thought.

Lisia took the cup away and the twin gym leaders, Tate and Liza took her place. Each twin held a small cushion with a ring nestled on it. Between them, Wallace and Steven had found they didn't know many children to ask to be ring bearers. Seeing as Wallace had chosen Lisia to be the chalice bearer they had left it to Steven to choose ring bearers. Steven decided to pick people close to home.

Spenser said a few more words, and they each proclaimed their final confirmation as they slipped a ring onto the other's finger.

"I now pronounce you married."

Spenser said nothing else and Steven, for a split second, thought he had gotten out of the dreaded public kiss. But Wallace was closing the gap, bringing them in for a gentle kiss. Everyone began to cheer when their lips met, but thankfully Wallace wasn't intending on dragging it out. They released him fairly quickly.

"I know you weren't looking forward to that, but they were all waiting," Wallace said.

"Thanks."

Wallace linked arms with him and they began to walk back down the aisle, leading him away from the crowd. The reception was being held in the gym, Juan playing host for the day.

"Well, we're officially married." Wallace looked down at the ring on their finger.

Steven nodded thoughtfully. "It's kind of weird. Sorry about my vows, I kind of panicked."

"You were honest, made a rock reference, and kept it short. I think it was just like you."

"As were yours. As beautiful as you." Steven ran a hand down Wallace's arm, feeling the silk of their robe. "Did you make this?"

"Sort of. These were my grandparents' wedding outfits which had been passed down to my parents. Of course, I asked before I cut them up to combine them into this. I see Winona did a good job advising you."

"I would have Winona pick all my clothes."

"Wallace, Steven," Juan greeted them at the door.

"Juan, did you not make it to the ceremony? I trust everything is ready."

"I am more than prepared for our guests, so much so that I had time to surf up to watch most of it and then ride the waterfall back down before you got here." Juan seemed pleased with himself. "It was a beautiful ceremony indeed."

Steven didn't recognise the gym when he stepped into it. The pool had been covered completely, but most of the area it took up was fairly clear still. Tables surrounded what was now the dance floor, one longer table stood in front of the waterfall at the back of the gym.

"Oh, wow!" Steven had spotted the cake. It had been described to him, but this was his first time seeing it. "Wallace, when are we cutting this?" He wanted nothing more than to scoop some icing onto his finger. Was the milotic and metagross on top edible?

Wallace pulled him away. "All in good time, my love. Shall we get to welcoming our guests?"

 **OooO**

"I can't believe I agreed to a wedding." Steven flopped onto the sofa.

"I thought it was great," Wallace said, slipping their hat off.

"It was so embarrassing. The kiss, the dancing and then the speeches! I can't believe my father actually brought up _that_ story."

"I thought it was cute – your father said some very nice things and it was a lot more interesting the speech my parents came up with."

"Well, I'm glad it's over," Steven said, motioning for Wallace to sit with him, hugging them when they did so. "Now I can be all romantic with you."

"Wait, I've just remembered I have something for you." Wallace jumped up and disappeared upstairs.

They returned with a beautifully wrapped box. Steven opened it with care and took out the pokéball inside – a cherish ball. "Wow, where did you get one?"

Wallace rolled their eyes. "The ball isn't the important part of the gift – there's something inside."

He threw the ball and a small Pokémon popped out. Steven was on his knees by the Pokémon, at first just gesturing towards it wordlessly in amazement. He ran his hands over the body of the shiny beldum, not entirely convinced it was real. "How?"

"Like I said, I've been working on this for a while. I lost count of how many it took, but I'm glad I hatched one in time for today." Wallace didn't want to admit that the number was quite a lot higher than they had anticipated.

After Steven had finished staring in amazement he returned his new beldum to its ball and set it carefully back into the box. He threw himself at Wallace, enveloping them in a hug. "My meteorite is nothing compared to this – how can I ever thank you, Wallace?!"

"Steven, this is my gift to you for being my husband, I don't need repayment or anything."

"But it must have taken months of secret breeding… How many beldum do you have now?"

Wallace laughed. "I didn't keep them, but I didn't release them all either. I traded some away, others were sent off to regions they're native to – I'm sure you're aware of the service the day care offers to breeders."

"I guess it's not feasible to keep hundreds of them." The thought of the parentless beldums was making Steven a little sad.

"Anyway, I'm glad you like it. Now, what was this about you being romantic?"

Steven straddled their lap and kissed them tenderly. "I'm assuming you don't have plans for this evening?"

"Well of course we do – I _did_ tell you, right?"

"Yes, we're going…" Wallace had definitely said something about... "Oh, the base!"

"You looked so tired when we got in, I didn't want to rush you to get ready – unless you want to wear that. I suppose you're quite at home in a suit. I'm quite bored of this robe, it's surprisingly heavy."

Steven followed Wallace upstairs, trying the robe on whilst they changed. He could see their point – the fabric itself was high quality, giving it weight, but the trimming around the hems is what contributed the most. Still, it made the robe hang nicely, not a crease to be seen.

"Having fun?" Wallace asked as Steven admired himself in the mirror.

"I feel important wearing this." He grabbed Wallace's hat and put it on. "Now I'm you."

Wallace watched on expectantly.

Steven struck a pose, one hand on his hip, the other arm outstretched. "I'm an elegant water trainer who will beat you in a beauty contest."

The corner of Wallace's mouth turned up. "Well, I guess you could have done a much worse impersonation." They picked their hat off of Steven's head. "Shall we get going?"

 **OooO**

It turned out that Wallace had been trying to stall them a little. They admitted to employing Winona to prep the base before they got there. Several candles were carefully placed and a pot of tea had been freshly brewed.

"I hope this doesn't spoil whatever romantic surprise you had for me," Wallace said, pouring them both some tea.

"Now you're twisting my words, I just said I wanted to be romantic on our big day." He took a sip of tea; it was something he hadn't had before, but it tasted wonderful. "I know I was quite awkward about it earlier, so I was going to make it up to you when we were alone."

"I shall let you lead the evening then."

"Pokéflix and chill?" Steven suggested.

"Very romantic," Wallace said sarcastically.

Steven smirked. "My dear Wallace, you clearly aren't down with the kids these days."

They raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what you mean, but please choose what you want to watch – not the rock documentary though."

He dived onto the cushion pile and picked up the remote, scrolling through for something fun. A rom-com which Wallace wouldn't mind missing when the 'chill' part of the evening kicked in, he decided.

It ended up with Wallace spooning him as they lay on the floor watching what turned out to be a rather entertaining movie. Perhaps he would actually get back to watching this one.

Steven turned so he could pull Wallace into a kiss. They were quick, gentle kisses to start with, but they soon evolved into something slower with more passion.

He let his hands trail past the usual waist boundary, running a hand up Wallace's inner thigh. They were wearing a short nightdress, with nothing on underneath, Steven found.

"Is this what 'chilling' means these days?" Wallace asked when they finally broke apart for long enough.

"Only when in combination with Pokéflix – as far as I'm aware."

They pulled at his bowtie, undoing it. "Unlike you to be so forward; I like it."

"I have a little something, actually." He reached into his jacket's inner pocket and pulled out three rings, too big for fingers, but too small for wrists. "If you fancy something different."

Wallace looked at them, slightly confused. "Steven, I don't want to assume, but are you telling me you got married with those in your pocket today?"

"They're small enough that no one could tell. This one even has stones on it – quite like what is often found in my pockets."

They took that one from him and admired the string of coloured gems hanging from the ring. "Very pretty, but you are living up to the headcanon your fans have that you get off to rocks."

Steven frowned. "Damn it. I got it recently with tonight in mind, but I wanted something different from the other two."

Wallace gave the silicone ring a stretch before inspecting the metal one. "Well, I'm placing dibs on this." They pushed the metal one back towards him. "I've never used a cock ring, but something tells me I don't want to start with something as inflexible as metal."

"I wasn't going to let you have it. I just figured I'd put my whole collection out there."

"Hmm…last time we talked about this you had three toys, but if you got the third ring recently… I wonder what the other thing is."

Steven shook his head. "Some other time, I'm sure. But right now shouldn't you be helping me undress so I can actually make use of my ring?"

"You're certainly eager tonight." Wallace wasted no time in beginning to unbutton his shirt.

"I might have tried to prepare myself."

They slipped off his jacket and shirt, folding them as always. "Oh? Do enlighten me."

Steven stood up to make removal of his trousers easier. "Looking a stuff that gets me a bit hot under the collar, playing out this scenario before I go to sleep. Just little things to get me a bit frustrated without acting on it so I could save all those needy feelings for tonight."

"I'm flattered you'd do such a thing for me." They began to slip the ring onto his member.

"Not like that." Steven went over to the bedside drawer where they kept a bottle of lube (today being the first time either of them had used it), and applied some to his skin. Then took the ring, slipping his balls into it first before his member.

"I wasn't expecting to get schooled by you on how to wear a cock ring."

"This one isn't so bad because there's a bit of stretch, but trust me, it matters when I use the metal one."

Wallace considered the silicone one they'd picked. "I bet that's really hot." They decided to only use the ring on their member this time.

"I only use it when I'm feeling really adventurous. It has to be put on before you get hard otherwise it doesn't fit, and as such, can only be taken off after you climax. I've heard some people have had to have metal rings cut off their dicks and I really don't want to be that guy."

Wallace looked suitably surprised. "Okay, maybe I don't want to ever try that."

Steven relaxed back into the pile, pulling Wallace on top of him, starting to stroke them gently. He gave them a few safety pointers before they got too into it.

They began to repay him in kind, making sure to massage his balls too, and playing with the gems now hanging from them. "Aren't these annoying you?"

"No, it's quite a nice cool feeling against my thighs. Isn't that why you're still wearing this?" Steven tugged at the silk dress.

"I can take it off if you'd prefer."

"Whatever _you_ prefer, it's just a little odd because you always seem to remove – and fold – everything you were wearing."

Wallace nodded. "I guess that's true. You always seem to get horny at the wrong time for me. Like I get into something I don't mind getting dirty and you're all kisses and cuddles, but I'm in something I wouldn't even wear while cooking and you're like 'hey I'm feeling it for once.'"

"I'm sorry I'm so infrequently hot." He began to stroke Wallace with a bit more pace as if to apologise.

"Mmm, it's no problem. But I am starting to think that maybe you do find me somewhat sexy in some of my outfits."

Steven tried to remember any of the outfits. "I will have to keep a watch out."

"Anyway." Wallace leaned forward to kiss him. "I will be disappointed if we come out of this without a drop of cum on my dress."

Steven drizzled more lube into his hand and lined their hips up so he could fondle them both at the same time. He ended up using both hands when Wallace tried to get in on the action.

"I want to do this for you," he said. "Just enjoy it."

"Oh?" If that was the case they certainly would. Wallace hinted at a change of position and Steven was quite happy to oblige. Now they could enjoy the comfort of the cushions while looking up at their well-toned husband. What wasn't to love? They began to indulge themself further by gently rubbing their nipples and brushing their nails over their body.

"Go slower."

"Slower?" He didn't hear that often.

Wallace hummed. "Everything feels so good right now, I just want to draw it out."

Steven decided to slow things down in a different way. He slowed his strokes to a stop and then replaced his hand with his mouth. That made Wallace moan. With the permission he had, he took everything as slowly as he wanted. Since their first time he hadn't become much better at blowjobs, but at this pace he wasn't bad.

"Oh, sweet Arceus – Steven, this ring is amazing." Their hips quivered as they tried not to move too much. "It's like every touch is just more – mmm…ah, I feel so much more sensitive."

Steven smiled around Wallace's dick. Nothing was more pleasing than hearing how much they were enjoying this.

It wasn't long before Wallace placed a hand on his cheek. "Steven, come here."

He crawled up to lay next to them. "Yes?"

Wallace pecked his lips and slid a hand between his legs. "I think it's your turn for some attention."

"But you're not finished," he protested.

"I don't want to be." They moved in again to lock lips. Wallace kissed him many times, allowing little pauses to hear the sound of Steven panting. They didn't stop until he was moaning into the kisses and moving his hips in time with their strokes.

Then they moved to kiss and suck on Steven's neck – a place they had found Steven quite enjoyed the attention.

"Wallace, that's too much."

They sighed. "But you like it."

"I love you, but I'd rather not walk around with a love bite."

Wallace ran a finger up his neck. "No one would even see it here with all the collared shirts you wear."

"Why though? It seems like such a teenage thing to do." He was reminded of the first time he'd seen someone with a love bite; he wished he'd never asked.

"I bet you didn't have one as a teenager though, so what better time than now?" Wallace licked his neck.

"Ew," Steven groaned.

"What? I can lick your dick but not your neck?"

When they put it like that, it was a rather odd thing to him to object to. "Look, I prided myself on getting through my teenage years without doing all those silly things associated with teenagers. Why should I go back now?"

"Don't you think it would be a little bit sexy to walk around with a mark that reminded you of me?" Wallace was beginning to move down his body.

"Well, I have a ring for that now – that I can see all day without looking in a mirror. But if you feel like that maybe I should give you one."

Wallace shook their head as they gave his member an experimental lick. "And be forced to cover one area of my body for a week? I don't think so."

Steven smirked. "Maybe I should put it on your ass then."

Without replying, Wallace took his length into their mouth and Steven found he had nothing more to say. He closed his eyes and focused on every touch, from their practised tongue to the nails scraping his inner thigh.

Steven couldn't help but let a few moans slip as Wallace continued. "Nng, Wallace… Shit, don't stop."

He felt a vibration of amusement from Wallace. Nothing was more amusing than their well-mannered lover letting slip a curse word. It was a sign he was close to release. They kept up the pace as requested, switching from mouth to hand moments before Steven hit his peak, watching how his body rose and fell as cum decorated his abs.

"Ah, Wallace…" He placed his hand on theirs as a sign for them to stop stroking, the continued stimulation quickly becoming uncomfortable. Then he reached for the clasp of the ring still binding him. Wallace released it, earning a relieved sigh from Steven. "Much better."

They returned to their own leaking erection, slipping off the ring they were wearing. "As fun as these are, I think I'll continue without tonight."

Steven, still catching his breath, reached out to help Wallace. With the ring off and the sight of a semen-covered Steven beneath him they knew they wouldn't last long. He began to move so he could take Wallace in his mouth once more.

"No, Steven, ah –" They didn't mean to come all over Steven's face, but sometimes things didn't go to plan. "Sorry," they said as Steven wiped his eye.

"I really wish we had a shower," Steven said.

"We should have thought about that before we started. In the heat of the moment I wanted everything everywhere, but that probably wasn't the best decision."

Steven pulled them close, ensuring they shared in his fluid-covered body too. "We can figure that out later." He kissed them gently.

"We can always go out for a dip in the lake."

"Wallace, it would be absolutely freezing."

"Milotic could give you a shower?"

Steven considered it. "Maybe. Enough about later, I want to know about just now – did you enjoy it?"

"No, I want a divorce from kinky Steven and his cock rings. I thought I was marrying an innocent man."

He laughed. "Innocent? I don't know who you thought you were dating."

"Seriously, I cannot believe I have gone so long without trying one of those. I kind of want to put you in the metal one and tease you."

"Definitely not. As much as I trust you, I just about trust myself to use that. I could probably count the amount of times I've used it on my hands."

Wallace pouted. "That's disappointing. Maybe you could just show me instead?"

"I thought you wanted me as innocent as possible?" Steven blinked with as much cuteness as he could muster.

"The act's up now."

"Well, I guess that means it's time for me to be shown your toys too."

Wallace hummed in thought. "I think I can find something you'll like."


	12. Together Forever

"How was the honeymoon?" Maria asked when he walked into the office the following week.

"It was great. We spent most of it at my villa in Sinnoh. Oh, and Wallace didn't bother to tell me until we were there that the Cup they'd been planning for what, 2 years? Was finally happening."

"They asked me to keep that one quiet. I thought it was very cunning to have it in Sinnoh so you wouldn't see any of the advertising. Anyway, I'm glad you had a good time. Your online fans want to congratulate you." She pulled up a list on her Nav. "I have some choice pikas if you'd like to hear."

"I suppose so. I haven't checked any of the accounts since the last time I was here."

The general reaction was a lot of fans were happy for him and Wallace, but were disappointed that he was now officially spoken for. Some even had the gall to ask when the divorce would be so they could prepare to win his heart next. There was also a demand for wedding photos and, much to his pleasure, a new line of stones.

"They've figured out you've been travelling and they want stones from other regions," Maria said.

Steven smiled. "I have waited for this day. Consider me gone for the next few weeks to dig in caves all day long until I pass out from exhaustion."

"Wallace won't be happy."

"They don't have to come. In fact, I bet they'll decline. They're going to challenge May for the Champion title, so we could probably do with a little time apart to get back to our own lives."

 **OooO**

Wallace pinned Steven down against the sand. No one could see them here behind Granite Cave.

"Are you sure this isn't too much?" Steven asked.

"We wouldn't want to disappoint our client with anything less." Wallace adjusted their cloak to reveal their lack of clothing underneath.

"I never asked for this," Steven sighed as he heard a camera click.

A certain male-targeted magazine had approached Maria with an offer to pay the business for an ad, but only if it fit the specification they'd provided. Steven couldn't say no to someone willing to pay them for an ad rather than the other way round, but wished he'd read ahead before agreeing to it – not that he had to go through with it; this was a pay-on-delivery job. Now he found himself naked on a beach, Wallace on top of him, probably soon to stand up and find sand in all the places he never wanted it.

"It's going to be tasteful – I mean, I am directing this." Wallace leant in closer.

"It's going to be all over the internet." He could see it now – whatever photo that was chosen posted on every social media site he was on (and not on), people tagging him multiple times. "Oh Arceus, my father's going to see this."

"And you didn't have that problem with your previous shoots?"

Steven placed a hand on Wallace's neck as directed. "This is completely different. The last time I did a shoot like this was with a girl I didn't know, but with you…"

"Stop getting so embarrassed, they'll ask us to stop if your face is too red."

He took a deep breath. "I only wanted to be like this with you when we were alone… And I'm being painted as the bottom."

Wallace couldn't help but laugh. "Well, you shouldn't have lost the right to this cloak then. Not that I thought something like that would matter to you."

"I can feel the sand in my ass. I would do many things to be in your position and not have this feeling."

The crew finished placing the stones around them and called for the shot to be taken.

"Maybe I'll just keep the photos and not sell the ad," Steven mused.

"After all the effort I've put in?"

"You can have a copy too – for when I'm not around and you want to think of me." He winked.

 **OooO**

The sound of a Nav ringing woke Steven from his slumber. He rolled over towards the sound, confused as to why he'd left the Nav on this side of the bed.

"Hello?" he said groggily.

"Blimey, do you sound rough in the morning." It was Sidney on the other end. "Anyway, just called to let you know we're starting a little earlier due to the number of hopefuls today."

"What time is it?" Steven looked up at the familiar wall clock.

"Steven? Is that you?"

"Yes? You called me?" Why did Sidney sound so surprised?

"I called Wallace's Nav. Pass the message along will you?"

"Starting early, yeah, I got it." He ended the call and fell back onto the pillow. For a moment there he had forgotten he wasn't Champion. It certainly was odd to be back here.

"Who was that?" Wallace walked in, hair still damp from the shower.

Steven relayed Sidney's message, not that Wallace needed to worry, being the early bird they were.

"I wonder if I'll get any challengers today," they mused.

It was day 3 of the busiest period, and Wallace had already called him over because they were bored. Steven was grateful he had such a time consuming hobby that could be done at a table. It wasn't that Wallace didn't have such hobbies, but they complained that challengers would disrupt their creative flow.

"I hope you do – I want to watch."

Wallace stood looking into the wardrobe. They looked over at Steven for some advice. "Wake up, sleepy head."

"I'm not sleeping, I'm just resting my eyes." Truthfully, he didn't want to get out of this bed; he'd missed it too much.

"I guess I'll have to eat those fresh pain au chocolats by myself."

They both knew Wallace wouldn't eat two persons' worth of pastries, but Steven still rolled out of bed – the thought of having a fresher pastry rousing him.

Wallace didn't have a challenger until the early afternoon. Steven made sure to tune into Ever Grande's League channel which was broadcast exclusively within the building. Today's challenger was probably not much younger than him and that gave him hope they would put up a good fight. They led with an espeon, and when it fainted it became clear that Wallace was dealing with an eevee trainer. Leafeon put up a good fight against Wallace's water team, but it wasn't quite enough. Left until last, Umbreon attempted to carry them to victory. Wallace did them the honour of using Milotic to finish them – one fairy move was all it took to take out the already tired umbreon.

Steven clapped as Wallace claimed victory. He high-fived them when they walked through the door minutes later. "That was great."

"There's definitely something more satisfying when you beat someone as Champion." Wallace hadn't yet lost to a challenger in their short time in the position, but there had been few to make it as far.

"The level restrictions on the gym can't be fun to work with."

"No, not when I know I'm about to be beaten by someone who has Pokémon 10 levels above the ones I can use because it's only their third badge," Wallace sighed. "I hope I have someone come for a rematch here after beating me."

"I think I had one of those in my whole time," Steven said. "Although it was one of the best battles I've had."

"If you challenge me then I can use my highest level Pokémon, right?"

Steven hummed. "Well, technically it would be my first league battle against _you._ " He grinned. "Do you want me to take the title from you?"

"Yeah, forget that. I need to hold the position for just as long as you."

"Nothing's stopping me…"

Wallace moved in closer. "Really?"

"Mmm, I think I could beat you."

They inched forward more, arms enclosing Steven. "Do you think?"

"Are you trying to intimidate me?"

"Perhaps."

Steven closed the gap and pressed his lips against Wallace's. "I wouldn't want to upset you."

"Oh? I almost want you to challenge me now."

"I don't have time for this. I'm off to Kalos to go rock hunting with Grant."

Wallace released their hold. "You're going to Kalos without me?"

"Of course not – where would I be without my translator?" Steven smiled. "I mean, assuming your League obligations will allow you to." He knew that the League would be more than happy for a reason to close its doors for a few weeks after the busy period.

"Are we staying in that ridiculous penthouse again?"

"Only if it was expensive enough for you."

Wallace laughed, they wasn't actually being serious, but they'd take all the luxury they could get.

"Oh, also I think we should get a cute, fluffy Pokémon. Maybe an eevee, like your challenger."

"What's suddenly brought this on?"

Steven shrugged. "None of our Pokémon are cuddly, as I have pointed out before. I guess it would be like our child, but with a lot less maintenance."

"Why, Steven, are you feeling parental?" Wallace placed a hand to his forehead. "Are you feeling okay?"

Steven brushed their hand away. "I want something that can share in my joy when you win battles - that I can hold in my arms."

"Is Aron not enough?"

"I love Aron to bits, but it's a workout trying to lift him. Besides, I don't think he knows you as well as he should. Don't you want us to have a shared Pokémon?"

"I'm not against it. I suppose we can always release it if things don't work out."

That made Steven frown. He was used to releasing Pokémon when the time came as he particularly didn't enjoy keeping them locked away in the PC. But he couldn't imagine saying goodbye to something he'd captured and trained with Wallace, much like he would never part with the metagross that had once been a beldum his father had given him.

 **OooO**

The sun was beginning to set when the pair left the Devon building. They walked onto Route 116 and Steven took out his Nav – the latest model with some new features. The DexNav function helped trainers seeking specific Pokémon and today he had it calibrated to search for an eevee.

They walked around, following the screen until they heard the sound of a small Pokémon. It was running around, chasing its own tail, stopping only when it noticed the humans staring at it.

"Aw, Wallace, it's so cute." Steven chose Aron for the occasion. "Be gentle."

Aron, realising it was a lot tougher than the Pokémon in front of it, gently nudged the eevee. It didn't seem fearful of Aron, so it nudged back. Aron looked to Steven for instruction. "I think it wants to play."

Steven and Wallace watched on as the two Pokémon got to know each other.

"I almost don't want to capture it," Wallace said.

"I don't think we'll have to." Steven knelt down and called Aron back. Eevee watched curiously. Steven held a hand out and Eevee approached until it was able to nudge against his hand. "We have to go now," Steven said. "You can come with us if you want."

Eevee watched as Aron happily returned to his ball. Steven held out a luxury ball in offer. Eevee considered its options and inspected the ball before pressing its nose against the button and disappearing into the ball in a flash of red.

Wallace smiled. "It's been a while since I've had a capture that sweet."

"Are you sure about the nickname we picked?" Steven asked.

"I think it will suit her well."

Steven cupped the ball and brought it to eye level, as if the eevee inside could see him. "Welcome to the team, Stella."

/END

A/N: Thanks for reading (Y). I, too, cannot believe it ended up being this long.


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